The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, The Novel
by zeldamaster8472
Summary: I always felt that the Zelda series deserved a novel, something that tells the story we're all familiar with, except with the kind of plot and character development more often found in literature than in video games. The seeds are there in the game, but sometimes they have to be drawn out. Believe it or not, this project came close to commercial publication. See intro for more.
1. The Fierce War

**Disclaimer**: All rights to the Zelda series belong to Nintendo. This story is for entertainment purposes only. No copyright infringement is intended.

* * *

Introduction

This project deserves some explanation, as it took some seven years of my life to complete, and even since that completion has seen some interesting twists.

First off, this is a straight-up novelization of _Ocarina of Time,_ but it's not what you might think: a step-by-step recreation of the game, like a player's guide. That would hardly have been worth posting, and I'm sure we've all seen that a thousand times before.

Yes, it follows the storyline of the game, but it does much more than that, as I hope you'll agree. I always felt that the Zelda series deserved a novel, something that tells the story we're all familiar with, except with the kind of plot and character development more often found in literature than in video games. The seeds are there in the game, but sometimes they have to be drawn out.

Probably the biggest twist—and perhaps for some, the hardest to believe—is that this project came painfully close to _commercial publication,_ meaning a professional literary agent actually helped me try to sell this to Nintendo.

I've submitted this project to several literary agencies over the years, but it never really caught anyone's interest until after the manuscript had gone through several revisions and I had really started to narrow down the list of prospects to those I felt were most appropriate for this type of project.

It was the summer of 2009 when I finally got my big chance. Out of respect for the agent who helped me, I'll leave their name out of it, but suffice it to say that the agent who fought the hardest for my cause had some pretty impressive credentials, including a production credit on a major motion picture and writing credits for a popular comic book series.

One of the last emails this agent ever wrote me went something like this: "I offered them a trunkload of money, and they didn't take it." For whatever reason, without having seen a single word of the manuscript, Nintendo refused to consider the novel for publication. Maybe it was me, since they didn't know me from Adam. Maybe they were against the whole idea of a Zelda novel to begin with. Either way, they had made a decision I had to respect.

Now, in 2012, three years after I hit that wall, I feel that this story should be shared with a wider audience. I may not be sharing it the way I hoped I would, but I am happy to finally be sharing it nonetheless. This is what I spent all those years writing. If it inspires or moves even one person, it was worth it.

My plan at this point is to post the prologue and the first chapter and after that to post one or two chapters at a time every week or so. The more response this gets from readers, the more likely I am to post the entire novel. So please feel free to share the link to this story and post reviews!

If you like what you see here—or even if you don't—you may enjoy my first commercial publication, a book titled _Virtuous Worlds: The Video Gamer's Guide to Spiritual Truth_. You can find it through a title search on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and many other major book dealers. The title is fairly self-explanatory, but if you'd like more info, feel free to send me a PM or check the book out on one of those sites. My focus here on _this _site will primarily be the Zelda novel.

Without further ado, please enjoy my take on one of the greatest video games of all time, _The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time._ And may the way of the Hero lead to the Triforce!

* * *

"Zelda was the name of the wife of the famous novelist Francis Scott Fitzgerald. She was a famous and beautiful woman from all accounts, and I liked the sound of her name. So I took the liberty of using her name for the very first Zelda title."

~Shigeru Miyamoto

* * *

"I believe that legends and myths are largely made of truth, and indeed present aspects of it that can only be received in this mode."

~J.R.R. Tolkien

* * *

"I suspect that men have sometimes derived more spiritual sustenance from myths they did not believe than from the religion they professed."

~C.S. Lewis

* * *

Prologue: The Fierce War

_Some swearing, some crying for a surgeon,  
__Some upon their wives left poor behind them,  
__Some upon the debts they owe,  
__Some upon their children rawly left._

_~Henry V,_ 4.1.130-133

* * *

She fled for her life and the life of her son. On a white horse, across a bloodstained field cluttered with the dead and wounded, through rain and thunder and the moonless night, she fled, clutching the reins in one hand, supporting her son with the other. Behind her, the city rang with the clash of swords and spears, the shouts of victors, and the screams of the dying.

She had left with nothing.

Only her clothes, her son, and the horse had come with her. Her husband had stayed behind, determined to fight with the rest. Even now, he could be dead, but she tried not to think about it. All that mattered was her baby. She had to get him to safety. She had to get him to the forest. It was the only place untouched by this awful war.

"Help me, please!"

A hand snatched at her foot, tearing away her shoe. Other hands grabbed at her knee, her arm, and her thigh, trying to slow her down. Wounded men surrounded her, and she stormed through them, ignoring all for the sake of her child.

A lightning bolt slashed the sky, illuminating the field for miles around. Two more bolts followed, and a peal of thunder crashed, spooking her horse to greater speeds. Ahead, the carnage tapered out, leaving a wide path to the forest, clear of debris.

Or so she thought.

The branch caught her at neck level, flipping her off the saddle and onto the grass, back first. Her son landed in her arms, unscathed. The horse kept going.

Blood ran from a cut on her chin. Her shoulder blade had cracked, and her breath slipped away faster than her ravaged throat could replenish it—but all that mattered was her son. She had to get him to safety.

Crying out at the pain, she pulled herself up, one arm braced around the trunk of the tree. Every muscle throbbed; every bone seemed ready to break. Still, she ran, and when the child began to whimper, she cupped her hand against its cheek and whispered her love.

"We're almost there," she said. "Father will come soon."

The forest loomed in the darkness. Another bolt of lightning speared the clouds, guiding her into the foliage. Her horse had trampled a path through the brush; she took it gratefully, hiding her baby's head from the branches and twigs that scratched her own face.

She hardly knew where she was going, but she knew she would run until her breath finally gave out. Her shoulder continued to spasm with pain. Now her nose was bleeding, and her chest ached with the strain of running.

She broke into the clearing at full speed.

* * *

Blue eyes tracked the strange woman as she entered the clearing, carrying the baby. This girl had never seen an Outsider before. The woman seemed lost, like a child far from home.

"Who is she?"

"Hush." The girl silenced the fairy at her side with a quiet rebuke. She hid in the bushes at the edge of the clearing and followed the woman with her eyes.

The woman stopped in the center of the clearing. A massive oak towered over her. She could have gone around it, but instead, she looked up as if to plead with the tree. Finally, she collapsed, and the baby fell out of her arms.

"Oh my…" The blue-eyed girl covered her mouth.

"_Go!"_ her fairy screeched.

She felt the word echo in her head, and she knew then what she had to do.

* * *

As the woman lay dying, she stroked her son's face, no longer holding back the tears.

She had failed him. The baby would never survive without her.

"I'm sorry," she whispered, nearly choking on the words. "I'm so sorry."

She barely heard the rustle, barely saw the slender shape racing towards her. By the time she realized there was someone else in the clearing, she was beyond caring.

The mother of the child of destiny had breathed her last.


	2. Link

**Part One: Child of Destiny**

* * *

Chapter 1: Link

_You see…when the first baby laughed for the first time,  
__its laugh broke into a thousand pieces, and they all went skipping about,  
__and that was the beginning of fairies.  
__And so…there ought to be one fairy for every boy and girl._

~J.M. Barrie, _Peter Pan_

* * *

_In the vast, deep forest of Hyrule, long have I served as the guardian spirit. I am known as the Deku Tree. The children of the forest, the Kokiri, live here with me. Each Kokiri has his or her own guardian fairy. However, there is one boy who does not have a fairy._

Link dueled in his tree house, swinging a branch at his bed, a chair, the table. His face pinched with anger, then gave way to rage, contorting his eyes through a hundred different looks as he told himself again and again that Mido would never get the best of him.

Mido. That pious filth who made his life miserable, who claimed he was the leader of the Kokiri.

Link's head throbbed with exertion. He rolled forward, thrusting at unseen enemies until the branch hit the wall and snapped. He stopped then, pausing to catch his breath and his temper. He was hungry. He hadn't eaten for hours. And it was his birthday.

Oh, yes. It was his twelfth birthday, and it was Mido's birthday, too. How _that_ had happened was anyone's guess. Each year, the two rivals shared one celebration; and each year, Link was forced to live with less than half of the attention.

"Maybe I'll get a fairy this year," Link said aloud, resting on the chair he had swatted. "Maybe I'll run away and find out who I really am." He frowned. "But where would I go?"

The Great Deku Tree's stories were his only hint of the outside world. Tales of kings, queens, and castles had filled his childhood, but he had never ventured outside the forest.

He shrugged. Better not to think about it. It was his birthday, after all.

Fifteen minutes later, Link stepped outside the house's only entrance, gripping a slingshot he had carved from the remnants of the broken branch. Neon orange sunlight sponged through his green tunic, warming his bare legs as they carried him to the balcony's edge, overlooking the forest.

His expression had mellowed slightly, though the sweat from his angry exertions had dried his hair into crispy clumps of blonde. His cheeks, like the rest of his face, had yet to show any sign of acne, but his sapphire eyes were the eyes of a young man twice his age.

He gazed at the other tree houses in the clearing. Most were glorified stumps, hollowed out and filled with the trinkets and furniture that distinguished one child from another. A few, like his, had ladders cobbled from random branches, and some had spiral slopes leading up to a balcony or doorway. But tonight they had one thing in common: they all stood lifeless.

Link's right eyebrow rose with his curiosity. Where had everyone gone? Yes, it was possible some had gone to bed early, but no one—not even his best friend Saria—had yet wished him a happy birthday. She, at least, would have done that by now.

He shrugged, closing a fist around the slingshot as he aimed it at Mido's house, pulled the empty band to its fullest extent, and released it with a snap. Invisible rocks sailed the distance to Mido's house, chipping bark and destroying furniture.

"Ouch!"

Link's hand shot to his ear, slapping away the mosquito that had spoiled his fantasy. He brushed his fingers along the lobe until he felt its sharp point, right where the bug had bitten him. He paused when he saw movement at the far end of the clearing. Saria.

Strapping the slingshot to his belt, he ran to the ladder and descended, jumping when he reached the fifth rung. He sped after his friend, unable to see her but knowing she hadn't gone far. Her giggles led him all the way out of the clearing.

"Saria, stop!" Saria kept going, just out of sight, teasing him with her laughter.

But then he tripped. Right at the edge of another clearing. Right in front of the entire Kokiri tribe.

"_Surprise!"_

Link remained on the ground as the cheers, laughter, and applause ignited. He watched with burning cheeks as Saria approached, her gentle face seized by mirth.

"Happy birthday, Link!"

Link tried to hide his embarrassment with gratitude as Saria and her friends helped him up. "Thanks, Saria. Thanks everybody!"

Saria laughed. "That was a great look you had on your face—"

"What look?"

"—Even though you weren't surprised."

The cheers grew louder, cutting off his protest. Saria, escorting him to a log facing the Great Deku Tree, seated him before turning to the others and issuing several instructions, giving Link time to observe their preparations for the feast and the bonfire.

His smile faded slightly when, in the instant before the fire erupted, he took in the sight of the other children with their fairies spinning joyfully at their shoulders. His pupils dilated, a sign of something deeper that went unnoticed by all except Saria_._He tore his gaze away and looked at the Great Deku Tree.

* * *

As dusk hewed the last dregs of evening, the moon's pale light warred with the shadows over Hyrule's greatest field. A man in a red cape stood transfixed on a hill facing east, his eye catching hints of firelight and celebration in the forest, though it was not the Kokiri themselves that had brought him here.

"Your answer," he whispered.

"_I have given it. You will never lay hands on the stone."_

"Are you certain you can protect it? Can you protect _them?"_

"_Yes."_

"You could never repel a physical assault. You are immobile, defenseless."

"_There are many elements to a complete victory, only one of which is physical."_

"You're right," the man laughed, "but it won't matter when I impale the children on your branches."

A long silence pervaded, broken only by the distant cries of a wolf.

"_What do you truly seek, Ganondorf Dragmire? It is not the Stone of the Forest," _said the Tree.

The man's smile widened. "Even the sky cannot touch the golden treasure I search for."

"_And you believe you will find it?"_

"No cost would be too great for such a power."

"_Then if such is your declaration, I will tell you mine: no force but the gods themselves could contend with my will to guard the Kokiri!"_

The man's smile disappeared, erased by the force of the Tree's outburst. His cheekbones swelled with ill-concealed fury. "So be it."

He turned away from the forest, raising a lone finger in signal. A hiss escaped into the night, and a black shape rose from behind the hill, crawling down into the forest before it vanished completely.

* * *

Link lounged on a log by the campfire, savoring a mouthful of Deku Juice along with one last bite of his favorite delicacy, roast Octorok—a dish that was little more than a bed of steamed tentacles topped off by the nostrils of one of Hyrule's ugliest creations.

Saria playfully nudged his ribs. "Had enough?"

"Never." Link wiped his mouth and held out the empty plate. "What's for dessert?"

"I'm glad you asked." She lifted a pan from behind the log, hiding its contents from view. "Close your eyes."

Link obeyed.

Saria speared a slice of brown pie from the pan, supporting its crumbly bottom with her palm as she slid it onto Link's plate. "Have at it."

Link obeyed, and the pie, without the slightest trouble, found its way onto his tongue, melted into his taste buds, and vanished down his throat, leaving only a trace of cream that bled down his chin.

"I made it myself," Saria said, winking as she shared what was left with the other children. Mido, of course, claimed half a pie for himself, forcing everyone else to eat smaller portions.

Returning with an empty pan, Saria waited, nervously clasping her hands. "Well? What did you think?"

"That," said Link, "was the best Skulltula pie I've ever tasted."

Mido's fork clattered on his plate. "Ha! I say it's the best pie ever made in Hyrule!"

Link tensed.

Saria stifled a laugh. "How would you know that, Mido? You've never been outside the forest."

"Doesn't matter." Mido grinned. "You can't get any better than perfect."

Link barely resisted the urge to slingshot his fork up Mido's nose.

* * *

When dinner had ended and the stars capped the night sky, the party broke up, and several children went to bed, leaving the few that stayed to their quiet fellowship and a fire in need of fresh kindling.

"So," Saria said, leaning closer, "did you make a wish?"

Link met her gaze, envying the way her emerald hair made her look like a true child of the forest. He nodded.

Her blue eyes twinkled. "And?"

"You'll find out."

"When?"

"Someday."

She sighed. Someone threw a log on the fire, teasing a handful of sparks.

"Actually," said Link, "I was hoping I'd get a fairy this year."

Saria blinked. "That was your wish?"

"No. I mean yeah…well…sort of. That's not what I wished for, but I was hoping it might happen anyway."

"Why?"

Now it was his turn to sigh. "You know why. Without a fairy, they'll never accept me as a true Kokiri."

"That's not true." Her frown outmatched his gloom. "Besides, that's not what I meant. Why should it matter in the first place? Being a Kokiri is about more than having a fairy; it's about our relationship with the Great Deku Tree."

A soft note echoed from a violin, signaling the dance.

Link took Saria's hand. "You're right," he said. "Let's forget about it."

With the last of the partygoers, they stood and surrounded the musicians. Neither was especially good at dancing—Saria was a little better than Link—but they had learned to avoid stepping on each other's toes. Together, they spun to the rhythm of the mellow waltz waxing into the twilight.

"Don't worry, Link." Saria rested her head on his shoulder. "You'll get a fairy someday."

Link didn't answer, but glanced at the stars as he imagined the world outside the forest. What was it like to stand at the top of a mountain, he wondered, or swim to the bottom of the sea? If he ever met those kings and queens, if he ever had the chance to explore a castle, what would he do? What would he say to them?

Saria shrugged at his silence and lapsed into her own thoughts. It would be a long night.

The musicians played for nearly an hour, teasing strings and goading melodies with instruments formed from the Great Deku Tree's wood. Their faces were covered by giant leaves with holes for the eyes, nose, and mouth. Link watched their movement while he danced, noting that one end of the lead violinist's bow formed a sharp point, forcing the boy to guard his fingers when he handled it to avoid a splinter—or worse.

"You're slowing." He broke from his thoughts and leaned in toward Saria. "What's wrong?"

She shook her head but said nothing.

"Was it my whining?"

"It was nothing you did," she said.

"Then what?"

"I've just got this feeling."

He smiled, enjoying the respite from his own worries. "Explain, please."

"You know how when the Great Deku Tree talks about good and evil, he says that you can always tell the difference between them if you're honest with yourself?"

Link remembered those talks. "Yeah."

"Well, the feeling I get during his stories is the same feeling I have now."

"You think there's evil in the forest?"

"I don't know."

"Then—"

Saria's fairy shrieked. "Watch out!"

The music stopped abruptly. Everyone stood still. Tracing her fairy's flight, Saria pointed upward, her face drained of all color. "Look!"

A massive tail, barely visible in the firelight, drooped through the Deku Tree's branches, its tip dripping venom into the fire.

"_Children…run!"_

The Tree's warning came in tandem with the egg, a slime-dappled orb that dropped from below the tail and landed in the fire, its husk melting away before the children had time to avoid the sparks sent flying by its arrival.

Jet black skin crackled in the flames. An armless body surrounded a single eye with two clumsy legs and a pair of antennae writhing out above the head.

Saria screamed. Link pushed her aside, taking them both out of the monster's path.

"Mido!"

Link's voice broke the spell that had rooted his rival in place. Mido turned and ran just as the monster charged forward.

Link scooped a stone from the ground and pulled his slingshot from his belt, but the monster, despite an awkward waddling gait, was fast. Before he could let off a shot, it threw itself on top of him, bringing him down.

Saria started to rise from her place.

"No, stay back!" Link winced under the strain of the monster's muscular weight on his back.

A branch cracked on the monster's head. Mido, tossing the two pieces, grabbed the hatchling's antennae and wrenched them to either side, just as the monster stood and began to thrash about.

Link, freed from all constraint, sprang up and latched onto the monster's leg, bracing himself against a log as he pulled upward, trying to topple his foe—and Mido.

"Mido…duck!"

The shout caused Mido to lose his grip on the antennae. He fell, narrowly avoiding the lead musician's encore—the violin bow, shot from its strings like an arrow. The bow sank into the monster's back, tearing through to the retina. Then, the boy tossed his instrument to Link, who caught it by the neck and whacked it across the monster's eye.

The monster reeled. Its eye bled on the dirt as it stumbled into the fire screaming. Link snatched up his slingshot and the stone he had dropped, pulled the band, and let fly. The rock clapped against the bleeding retina, knocking the monster onto its back.

The eye exploded, showering the bystanders with pale body fluids and splinters from the fire. Link, drenched by the onslaught, collapsed in a writhing heap with a splinter buried in his elbow.

Ignoring the splinters in her hand, Saria dashed from behind a log, grabbed several cups left by the partygoers, and poured the last of the Deku Juice on Link's face. Most of the fiery liquid was washed off; the rest soon became docile, leaving minor burns that would disappear from his skin in a day or two.

Saria tried to swallow her grief; she barely kept from collapsing with Link.

"How could this happen?" she said. "We've always been safe. Oh, Link…!"

Her eyes brimmed over, but she forced herself on, dimly aware of the first fat raindrop on her shoulder as she tore Link's tunic down to the waist. Then more wet drops fell on her shoulders and her head, joining countless others that splattered the dry ground into cesspools of mud and ash.

The fire sputtered and died, and darkness took over. The stars had grown dimmer, but Saria disregarded all in her quest to save Link; for though his wounds were hardly serious, the trauma of the monster's arrival had driven her to a state of confusion.

"It's just a dream," she said. "This isn't real." Clenching fistfuls of mud and grass in her search for a salve for Link's wounds, she continued muttering to soothe her own inner turmoil.

A soft wind lifted her hair from her shoulders. She looked up to find dozens of leaves trickling from the Great Deku Tree's branches. Acting on instinct, she cupped her hand around the first few that landed, crushing them.

When she opened her palm to the rain, the drops soaked into the crushed leaves, forming a mound of soggy flora that eased the pain in her hand. Her eyes widened in disbelief, and she realized that the Great Deku Tree's leaves had carried such properties all along. It was only now that the true power of his leaves became evident, since no Kokiri had ever sustained an injury dire enough to require this healing.

Flipping her hand, she rubbed the balm into the burns on Link's chest and watched his eyes flicker beneath their lids.

"Thank you," she whispered, glancing up at the Tree before she picked up Link's body and carried him into the woods.

* * *

Link awoke on a tree stump, sore and shocked when he remembered what had happened. He panicked at first, flopping from side to side, moaning as he felt the burns, grunting as he tried to rise, and calming only when he recognized his surroundings and realized that no monster would have ever thought to carry him here.

This was his sanctuary: an empty clearing except for the stump and a handful of old stone ruins. Two pillars, cloaked by trees and ivy at the clearing's edge, shadowed a wall in desperate need of repair. On the other side of the stump, near the center of the clearing, a small pedestal rose from the grass.

To this day, Link had no idea where the ruins had come from, and the Great Deku Tree had never answered his questions about them.

"Hey."

He glanced upward, surrendering to fatigue as Saria's hand touched his shoulder and lowered him back down to the stump. "Saria. How did we get here?"

"I carried you," she replied.

"All the way from the clearing?"

"I'm a girl. That doesn't mean I'm a weakling."

His chest heaved with laughter, and then he stopped suddenly. "The others?"

"A few burns, but nothing serious. At least on the outside."

"And you?"

Her chin fell slightly, bringing her eyes into the moonlight. Tears stained her cheeks, her nose, and her mouth. Her neckline was soaked. "I've cried more in the last few hours," she said, "than I have in my entire life."

"Some night."

"You could say that." She sighed. "I think somehow I knew what was going to happen."

"What do you mean?"

"I didn't want to admit it, but I was uneasy even before you chased me into the clearing. When the monster showed up, it didn't even surprise me."

"Why didn't you say something?"

"It was your birthday." She cracked a smile. "It's still your birthday. I didn't want to ruin it over a feeling."

Link nodded and closed his eyes. "I appreciate it, but if you ever feel that way again, do me a favor."

"What?"

"Let me know right away."

"Okay."

For several minutes, they allowed the night creatures to take over their conversation, chirping happily as if unaware of the evil descending on their home. Saria laid her head on Link's shoulder, careful to avoid pressing his burns. Her fairy drifted by her side, barely noticed, but still a significant presence.

"By the way," Link said, "thanks for setting everything up tonight."

Her brows furrowed. "How did you know it was me?"

"Don't pretend. You're one of the few that would think of doing it."

"What are you saying?"

"I told you: I see how the others look at me. I'm not a true Kokiri to any of them."

Saria jerked from his shoulder, her cheeks turning red as she shot to her feet. _"That's not true!"_

The emotion in her reply alarmed them both. Link stared, his lips parted in silence. An awkward pause stole the words he had meant to say.

"I'm sorry," she said. "I didn't mean to yell."

He shook his head. "It's okay."

"No it's not. I shouldn't have done that."

"But you weren't angry with me."

"You're right. I'm angry that there should be any reason for you to feel like an outsider."

"Mido will _always_ treat me like one, even if I do get a fairy."

"It doesn't matter." She stooped to her knees, keeping the rift in his tunic from being blown open by the cold night wind. "I never will."

"Thank you." He stretched his arms and rolled off the side of the stump, lowering himself to the ground with his hands. "Could you help me back to the village? I think my eyelids are gaining more weight than my stomach."

"No."

He turned to look at her. "No?"

"I have something to show you first."

She pulled a carefully wrapped package from the weeds near the stump, holding it in both hands as she placed it in Link's outstretched arms. His eyes held hers as he tried to unravel her strange actions.

"Open it," she said.

His fingers tore rents in the paper's thick layers, exposing a common Deku Shield as he removed the last few scraps.

Saria smiled at his befuddled expression. "Turn it over."

Like the instruments at the dance, Deku Shields were made from the wood of the Great Deku Tree. Most Kokiri owned one of these shields, and this one even had a red carving on the front made by the owner of the Kokiri Shop. The initials carved on the back, however—those of Saria and Link—were not a typical feature.

"I didn't know you still had this," Link said, his eyes welling up as he remembered the day he had given this shield to Saria as a birthday present.

"I somehow felt that I should give it to you tonight," she said.

"Is that another one of your feelings?"

"Maybe. I just didn't want to wait and risk losing the chance."

Link put an arm around her shoulder and hugged her. "Thanks, Saria. For everything."

She nodded, sniffing as she helped him to the edge of the clearing. "Let's go home."

* * *

Trading one last hug, Saria and Link parted, she to climb the hill to her tree house, he to mount the ladder that would take him to his. Neither had said a word as they came into the village. Even so, each had sensed the fear in the other, as if they knew that everything had changed but were slow to grasp the full significance of what had happened at the party.

_Am I getting my wish already?_ _This isn't the way I wanted it to happen._ These were Link's thoughts as he entered his house to find it just the same, with one glaring exception.

A stick-figure drawing had been burned into the wall over the bed with a flaming branch; it showed Mido, gloating over the hatchling's body, and Link, dead just a few feet away.

Link stood for a moment in disbelief, tempted to rush straight over to Mido's house for a rude discussion. His anger soon faded, though, tempered by his desire for sleep. He could always hit Mido later.

Placing the Deku Shield by the wall, he slipped under the covers of his log bed and sunk, ill at ease, into a frightful dream of the future.


	3. Climate of Evil

Chapter 2: Climate of Evil

_The Dark is rising. That was exactly what he had felt last night.  
__That was what he was beginning to feel again now._

~Susan Cooper, _The Dark is Rising_

* * *

_On some level, he knew he was dreaming, but he'd never had a dream like this one before. From the rain that plastered his shirt to his body, to the dark storm clouds that swelled overhead, to the mud that sucked on his boots and the torchlight spanning the drawbridge in front of him, everything about it felt real._

_Especially his fear._

_It wasn't a fear of death—his death, at least. His friends in the forest were safe, but there was someone else behind that drawbridge whose friendship he had come to cherish, and she was in danger._

_Startled by the rattle of chains, he turned to watch the drawbridge fall. A white horse appeared through the fog inside the city, throwing up bits of pavement, splinters, and mud as it passed over the drawbridge and out into the field, giving the boy from the forest a fleeting glimpse of a rider and passenger._

_The passenger…it was her! With gentle hands drawn white with fear, the girl held onto her escort as the older woman drove the horse at reckless speeds. She had time only for one glance at the little boy watching her. Then she was gone._

_The boy glanced after the vanished white horse, then turned back, frightened by the snort of another horse he had not heard approach. Black fur and crimson eyes gave the beast a demonic appearance, but its rider was far worse._

"_You!" The man spoke, turning his eyes on the boy. "The white horse. Which way did it go? Answer me!"_

_The boy remained silent, suddenly afraid of his own death, too, for he saw it in this man's eyes and in the way the man's red cape seemed to call for blood. Innocent blood._

_His blood._

* * *

Dawn.

Fog lay over the forest. Silence hung in the air, but it would not last. Today, Kokiri Forest would wake to find that its guardian, the Great Deku Tree, was dying.

"_Navi. Navi, where art thou? Come hither."_

A fairy appeared in front of the Tree, her body about the size of a man's fist.

"_Dost thou sense it? The climate of evil descends upon this realm. Malevolent forces even now are mustering to attack our land of Hyrule."_

A groan escaped the Tree's branches. _"For so long, the Kokiri Forest, the source of life, has stood as a barrier, deterring outsiders and maintaining the order of the world. But before this tremendous evil power, even my power is as nothing. It seems the time has come for the boy without a fairy to begin his journey, the youth whose destiny it is to lead Hyrule to the path of justice and truth."_

"_Navi…" _His voice faded, struggling to regain its force. _"Go now! Find our young friend and guide him to me. I do not have much time left. Fly, Navi, fly! The fate of the forest, nay, the world, depends upon thee!"_

* * *

Mido rarely dreamed, but when he did, it was almost always pleasant, and it was always of himself. He had spent hours replaying the fight with the monster, dreaming of another world in which he, Mido, had saved the forest as Link lay on the ground, dead or at least unconscious from his wounds.

Now, as he sat on the edge of his bed, Mido recorded his epic deeds by reciting them and drawing them on the wall with a flaming branch.

"So there I was," he said, "knowing that the fate of the forest depended on me."

Three images, all of Link's brutal torture and his own triumph, were already etched above the bed.

"The monster had tried to throw me off. It had tried to burn me." The fourth image formed quickly as he pressed the branch into the wood with his thumb. "But I didn't give up, even though Link had almost been killed."

Satisfied with his work, he snuffed the fire with his thumb and forefinger, then leaned back to survey the gruesome panorama.

"I was never afraid. I knew all along I could win, and I did." Another pause. "I jumped off and ran to Link's body, grabbed his slingshot, and aimed it at the eye." Dropping the branch, he turned to face his audience. Three chairs, a bed, and an old chest made of ash wood hung on his every word and gesture.

"The shot was perfect," Mido said, pointing a finger at one of the chairs as a smile played on his lips. "The eye exploded, and the monster died in the fire."

He took a bow and waited for the inevitable storm of applause.

"Hey! Listen!"

Mido spun around to find a pair of fairies—his own and one he had never seen before—hovering above the bed.

The strange fairy spoke first. "I'm Navi."

Mido frowned at Pol. "I thought I told you to keep everyone out."

"She came in so fast," his fairy protested. "I didn't see her!"

Mido shrugged, turning to the newcomer. "What do you want? I don't have time for—"

"I'm looking for the boy without a fairy!" Navi said.

"You mean Link?" Mido lunged out and kicked one of the chairs so that it fell and cracked the lid of the old chest. "What do you need him for?"

"Please, it's important. The Great Deku Tree is dying!"

The heat in Mido's eyes evaporated. "What?"

* * *

Link awoke with a start, sure that something was terribly wrong. Vivid memories of a man with dark eyes and a red cape clenched his mind as he tried to sit up.

_The party. The monster. Saria!_

The reality of last night's events hit him all at once. He moaned and swung a leg over the edge of his bed. "What's happening?"

He heard voices below, in the clearing. One seemed familiar, but he had never heard the other. Were they looking for him?

Suddenly afraid, he leapt back into bed and closed his eyes, willing the voices away. If this was reality, reality could wait.

"Hey!"

Feet clacked up the ladder to his house. The shout had come from just outside the doorway.

"Wake up!" A high-pitched voice disrupted his thoughts, but he pretended to be asleep.

"Hey, Link!" The footsteps stopped at the edge of his bed, the two voices blending together in his head.

_Mido?_

"Wake up!" The same high voice repeated its obnoxious call, but its source moved back and forth, up and down in agitation. "Can Hyrule's destiny really depend on such a lazy boy?"

Link curled up in a ball. "Leave me alone."

A fist grabbed his tunic from the back and yanked him off the bed. Furious, Link stood up and cocked an arm to punch whoever had dared disturb his rest.

"Just try it." Mido glared back at him, chest thrust out, hands on his hips, unafraid.

Link let his arm fall back to his side. "What are you doing here?" Just then, he noticed there were _two_ fairies hovering at Mido's shoulder. "Who…?"

Navi spun a circle around Mido's head before stopping in front of Link. "I'm Navi the fairy. The Great Deku Tree asked me to be your partner from now on!"

A soft gasp hissed through Link's teeth. "What did you say?"

"You have a fairy now…me!"

After years of yearning for just such a moment, only one word came to Link's mind. "Why?"

"I should probably take you to see him first."

Mido had already turned to go through the door, but Link could make no move to follow. He couldn't get the dream out of his head. He _knew_ something was wrong.

"Hurry!" said Navi.

"Wait." Link rubbed his temples. "This has something to do with that monster last night, doesn't it?"

Navi landed her tiny frame on his shoulder. "Let's go!"

Link nodded, dizzy with the feeling that things had changed and would never be the same, here or anywhere else in Hyrule. On a hunch, he picked up the Deku Shield Saria had given him, hooked his arm through its leather straps, pulled on the new tunic she had left at his bedside to replace the torn one, and followed Navi out into the village.

The forest stood silent, still as death in the morning light.

* * *

An hour before dawn, Saria had left her house for a hike in the woods, hoping for a chance to sort through her thoughts. Her sleep had been dark and miserable, dreamless but rife with foreboding. She had taken her ocarina with her, but not even its quaint notes could comfort her as they always had.

She wept by the stump where she had tended to Link's injuries, but none of the forest creatures joined her. Every branch, leaf, and breath of wind had fallen silent. Only when the sun rose over the treetops did she look up at last, grief clawing her face in the form of a dozen teardrops.

_If this evil can kill even the Great Deku Tree, how can we possibly fight it?_ She watched as a single ant skittered across the stump. _And who will protect us? _

Feeling like the ant, and angry at herself for her helplessness, she raised her thumb to squash it, but immediately regretted the thought. _No._ She lowered her thumb and turned away, finally resolved to act. _Even if he dies, there is always hope._

She pushed herself up and eyed the trail that led back to her home. With a deep breath, she took a step forward, and the more steps she took, the less she noticed her fear. Before she knew it, she had entered the woods.

"I must share what hope I have," she whispered, "even if I don't have enough for myself."

* * *

Nearly ten minutes after he had summoned her, Navi returned to the Great Deku Tree ahead of Link, Mido, and Pol. By then, the sun had risen, but its light scarcely penetrated the gloom that clung to their hearts. Even with half his leaves gone and a sickly mold eating at his bark, the Tree still represented everything they had ever cared for.

"_Oh, Navi, thou hast returned."_

"Great Deku Tree." Navi dove from Link's shoulder and flew up to touch one of the Tree's branches. "I found him. The boy without a fairy."

"_Yes. Link."_

Link freed his arm from the Deku Shield and left it on the hill at the edge of the clearing as he approached the Tree. Mido kept his distance, trying to hide the pallor spreading across his face at the sight of the Tree's helplessness.

"I'm here, Great Deku Tree." Link bent to one knee, covering his face with his right hand to conceal his tears.

"_Welcome, Link. Listen well to what, I, the Great Deku Tree, am about to tell thee."_ A shudder split three branches near the Tree's highest point. _"Thy slumber these past months must have been restless and full of deadly nightmares. As the servants of evil gain strength, a vile climate pervades the land and causes nightmares to those who are sensitive to it. Verily, thou hast felt the climate descending."_

Link shuddered, too. The man with the deathly eyes and blood-red cape would haunt him long after the nightmares faded, he was certain.

"_Alas, I had hoped to suppress the evil, but you can see where that has led. I fear there remains but one hope for us all."_

Link's control slipped, and a lone tear soiled the ground beneath his face. "What hope?"

"_The time has come to test thy courage. I have been cursed, and I need you to break this curse with your wisdom and courage."_

Link shook his head. "I can't."

"_You doubt the life that flows in thy veins?"_

"No."

"_Then you are ready, for Courage itself is in thy blood."_

Link craned his neck upward. "What about Mido?"

The Tree did not answer, but Link knew. Mido had stayed on the hill rather than asking to be included. That was answer enough.

"_Dost thou have courage enough to undertake this task?"_

Link replied with less hesitation this time. "Yes."

"_Then enter, brave Link, and thou too, Navi."_

A hairline fracture appeared in the Tree's bark and grew until it had formed a mouth-like opening large enough to step into.

Link returned to the hill for his Deku Shield, ignoring the hatred in Mido's eyes. Navi trailed at his waist, following when he turned his back on Mido, on Saria, and on the forest itself.

Thus he entered the Great Deku Tree.


	4. A Vision of Things to Come

Chapter 3: A Vision of Things to Come

_The seven lean and ugly cows…are seven years,  
__and the seven empty ears blighted by the east wind  
__are also seven years of famine._

~Genesis 41:27

* * *

Still in shock over the events of the past twenty-four hours, Link slowly took in the details of the strange environment he now found himself a part of. Though he was well aware of the urgency of what he had been called to do, a sheer, overwhelming uncertainty began eating at him almost before he had stepped inside the Great Deku Tree. Pinpoints of light from the forest streamed in to illumine the surrounding area, but all he could see at first was the giant Skulltula web stretched across the center of the floor.

"Navi?" he said, feeling very weak as he pointed to the web. "Can you check to see if whatever made that is still around?"

"Me?" The fairy startled him with the volume of her reply. "I think I'll stay with you."

"_You _are checking this whole room until we're _both _sure there aren't any Skulltulas in it."

"Go stick your head in a Deku Bush." Flitting about like an insect, Navi spun around the perimeter of the chamber, uncovering nothing that seemed an immediate threat. Small beads of moisture slid down the bark that made up the walls, which rose upward for a distance that Link could only guess at. Vines snaked around in a network so full of life it was almost like a forest by itself.

Eagerness suddenly rising above his fears, Link rushed forward to take hold of a large cluster of vines skirting the edge of the web. In his hurry, he paid little attention to his steps, stamping a solid footprint into a patch of mud that swiftly melded him in place. The soil swelled and rose up around his heels, and when he tried to move, the suction tore away his boots before throwing him on his face. Annoyed, he pushed himself to his feet and ripped the boots out of the mud, using the stem of a nearby vine to wipe himself off.

But the vine bit him, for it was not a vine at all, and he fell to the mud with a shout. When he looked up, his cheeks became slick with the saliva of a plant that seemed determined to bite off his head. Its own head, blue and shaped like a melon, held a brain that contained only one command.

Eat.

Link jumped to his feet and slammed the broad end of his Deku Shield into the plant's head, preventing any further attempts to bite as he dropped to one knee and tore the stem from the soil in one fell stroke. He stomped the head for good measure.

_Maybe this isn't such a good idea after all,_ he thought, gazing up at the vines and wondering just how many of those plants might be hidden among them. Unfortunately, the only way to proceed—other than going back—would have been to tear through the spider web behind him and jump down the hole it covered. Resigned to the inevitable, he sighed as he slipped back into the boots and eyed the filth covering both sides of his tunic.

Approaching the vines, he gave a firm tug on one and began a slow, cautious climb into the darkness. Thankfully, no plants sprang out to hinder his progress, and there was still no sign of whatever horror had formed the giant web. However, sweat soon trickled down his hands and arms, making it even more difficult to maintain his grasp on the vines.

"Hey! Listen!" Navi exclaimed, her bad timing startling Link so much that he lost his grip altogether, dropping several feet towards the floor until he was caught in a tangle of vines.

"Can't you keep it a little quieter?" he said. "Do that again, and I might not be so lucky."

"Sorry," she said, still too loud as he extracted himself and groped about until his hand found purchase on a nearby ledge. But no sooner had he pulled himself over the edge when she called again.

"Hey! Listen!"

A sound like the rustling of leaves had broken out somewhere nearby in the murk. Navi's light had peeled back a fraction of the blackness but was scarcely sufficient to reveal the noise's source. Sweating more than ever, Link inched forward.

Again the rustling echoed. This time, he dove forward, spreading his arms to act on a hunch that his enemy was near. His hands fell on a fat little creature with leaves instead of hair, wood instead of skin, and a squeal not unlike a rat in a trap.

"Ouch, ouch, ouch," the creature said, quaking in Link's arms. "Please forgive me, master!"

Link narrowed his eyelids to slits. "Tell me how to get through the web."

"If I give you a clue, will you let me go?" said the creature, its pupils shrinking from the strain of Navi's light.

Link nodded.

"When you jump off a high cliff, be sure to roll when you hit the ground. If you do, you won't get hurt from the fall." With that advice, the creature leapt from his arms and scurried off into the dark. Link followed its movement with raised eyebrows.

"What was that all about?" Navi said.

* * *

Stirring a hot bowl of Deku Soup, Saria sat alone upon her bed, trying to come to terms with reality but failing miserably. Her hands shook as she brought the spoon to her mouth, and her mind clouded with a storm of emotions that refused to allow her a moment's peace. She hoped for all the world that Link was safe, having prepared an extra serving in case of his return. But the silence and the loneliness went on, hounding her without end.

Outside, blue skies had shifted to bright evening orange and would soon fade away to deepest sapphire. Saria noticed none of this, ignoring all but the beat in her own heart, until a tearing sound alerted her that something had just uprooted her flowers. She slowly lowered the bowl to the bed and her feet to the floor and was about to investigate when the privacy of her home was suddenly invaded by an unwelcome visitor.

"Hey, Saria!" Mido leaned against the doorway with one hand behind his back and a stupid smile spread across his lips.

"What are you doing here?" she said, her own expression devoid of its standard warmth.

Grinning, he whipped a pair of tulips from behind his back, oblivious to the clusters of tightly-packed soil that still clung to their roots. He presented them with what little flourish he had, plopping them down right next to the bowl of soup intended for Link and letting the soil crumble and fall on the floor. And then, without waiting for her reaction, he began to recite the horrid poem he had prepared only minutes before.

"The trees in our forest  
Are stunning and…um, glorious  
But nothing compared to you.  
Saria, with your hair,  
So green and fair,  
Make all of my dreams come true."

Taking her silence as a positive sign, he continued.

"I, the Great Mido,  
Tire of watching  
The pain you put yourself through.  
Forget about Link;  
He's not coming back.  
It's now only me and you."

A smack resounded throughout the clearing, and before Mido knew it, he was on the floor in a pool of soup Saria had obligingly dumped on his head. Anger blazing in her eyes, she backed her hand away from the spot where it had met his cheek and leaned over to make sure her message was clear.

"Mido, if I ever hear you say another bad word about Link, I promise Farore it'll be the last thing you'll ever say!"

Totally unprepared for such a reaction, Mido salvaged what dignity he could and bolted out of the house, sprinting back to his own before his brain could invent new ways to dig the hole any deeper.

Saria collapsed to the bed, all pretenses having vanished like the warmth of the sun now yielding to the chill of dusk. Tears welled up and overflowed, and she spoke Link's name again and again until at last her weary soul yielded to slumber and knew no more.

* * *

Mido slammed his fists against the doorpost and paced around his room several times before snatching a Deku Stick and thumping it against the wall, where it snapped and fell to the floor in shards. Not content to leave it at that, he took another and swung it into a nearby jar. Both shattered.

"Who do you think you are? Saria belongs to me. You're no hero. You're not even a real Kokiri!"

Reaching under his bed, he withdrew his most precious possession: a sword shimmering in the faint moonlight, another treasure of the Kokiri on which he had long ago laid claim. He took it out of its sheath and held it, willing every frustration into its blade as he fumed over his bruised ego.

"Saria probably hates me now, but it doesn't matter. I'll never let him get all the credit for saving the forest!" He swore to himself as he dashed out to follow Link on the quest to break the curse.

* * *

Several minutes after receiving the strangest advice he'd ever been given, Link was still trying to figure out how rolling on the ground would save him if he ever happened to jump off a cliff.

"I hope these vines end soon," he huffed, inhaling in short gasps.

Taking the hint, Navi spiraled upwards. Faint skittering sounds had been echoing around them ever since he had begun the climb, and he felt sure his fingers had brushed past at least one insect, but poor light had prevented him from seeing anything not illuminated by the glow of his fairy companion.

His finger touched the cliff at the same moment Navi revealed it. Glancing to each side, he saw he had reached an opening on the edge of a thick ring of rock and soil that circled the top of the Great Deku Tree. That wasn't what caught his attention.

Skulltula webs clotted the area in nets so thick it seemed as if a mad weaver had strung dozens of white blankets together in rows that sagged over the outcropping.

Link grimaced as the webbing stuck to his fingers. He now had little doubt he would soon encounter the monster that had made these strands

"Hey! Listen!"

Tripping forward in surprise, Link fell right through an especially thick web, cutting his nose on a sharp rock as he landed in the soil.

"Darn it, Navi!" he said, spitting a wad of silk he had nearly swallowed. "I told you—"

A massive weight slammed into his chest, pitching him over the edge of the precipice. Too stunned to cry out at first, he groped and found a branch caught in a nearby web. The branch, in turn, found purchase in the flesh of his assailant, buying him time for a quick glance.

He screamed. The Skulltula's body was at least four feet wide and four feet long and capped by a plate of solid bone.

Link realized that only his hold on the branch prevented him from falling to his death. Unfortunately, his reflexes were beginning to give out on him.

"Link, I'm sorry!" Navi said as her friend plunged into the dark depths. "I was only trying to be helpful!"

* * *

In less time than it took to curse Link by every leaf on every tree in the forest, Mido blazed the route from his house to the Great Deku Tree, ignoring his fairy's protests as he bored through the clearing and in through the hole in the Tree's side.

Drawing his sword, he slapped the giant web with his feet and wailed his rage.

"Where are you, you coward? You can't hide forever. Come on and give me your best shot!"

Link's fall, timed perfectly with Mido's arrival, destroyed the web and knocked them both unconscious as they plummeted dozens of feet, into the underground pool surrounding the Deku Tree's roots.

Only Navi was aware the Skulltula had followed them, too.

* * *

Saria shivered in her bed, fighting for sleep despite cold, fear, and the soup that was now giving her cramps.

Against her own feelings, she had insisted everyone stay in bed to await the outcome of Link's task. She had to trust that the Great Deku Tree would never have asked anything of him that he could not accomplish.

Whether it all made sense was another matter.

Her heart rate rose and fell throughout the night, fluctuating with her stress until it all culminated in a dream involving both the events at hand and, though she didn't know it at the time, a vision of things to come.

* * *

_She was standing upon a round platform of beautiful blue, feet placed on a pedestal shaded in the colors of the forest. Around her were five others, spaced equally apart on the edges of the platform. All stood upon a similar pedestal, each with a different color and design, telling much about that person and the land from which they hailed and for which they were responsible. These guardians, these Sages, were all staring upwards into the center of the platform, where a vision of events in another realm was taking place. One of them, the leader, whose platform radiated an intense yellow light, chose that moment to speak._

"_The child of destiny grows stronger. It appears he may soon be ready for the final test."_

_She watched and waited, keeping her silence for the moment. Her concern for the person of whom their leader spoke was strong indeed. She had faith in his abilities but was assailed by a constant fear of seeing him fail. There was no one for her to turn to, no one who could truly relate to her dilemma. The closest she had was Ruto, daughter of the river, but she had once loved him too._

_The vision to their eyes grew darker, and the whole land was shown before them. Out of the desert, a hand stretched forth, seeming to encompass and devour everything in its path. For seven years, there was no stopping it._

_Then, out of the forest, there came a light._

_This light collided with the force from the desert, and their battle raged on for an eternity. The life of every citizen in Hyrule seemed suddenly caught up in this war of titans._

"_Power and Courage. Who will be the victor?" said the leader._

* * *

**Author's Note: **

**I hope you enjoyed Chapters 2 and 3. These early chapters covering Link's adventures inside the Great Deku Tree are among those I spent the most time revising. Believe me, the first couple of versions were ugly. I don't remember what inspired the dream sequence at the end, but I'm sure those of you who have played the game will appreciate the foreshadowing of characters and events from much later in the story. Keep the reviews and comments coming in, and feel free to share the link to this story with others!**

**I have to say, this being my first publication on this particular website, that I'm excited by the number of international readers I've been getting. I see at least one of you is from New Zealand, and speaking as a total Lord of the Rings fanatic, I've got to say that's pretty cool. Props to those of you from the UK, Germany, Canada, Sweden, Australia, and Finland as well. Stay tuned for more in the weeks to come!**


	5. The Deku Scrubs

Chapter 4: The Deku Scrubs

Link sensed the Skulltula's presence even before he woke; but when his eyes finally opened to witness his predicament, he wished he had kept them shut. His body hung in one of the Skulltula's webs, encased in silk from waist to shoulders above a vast underground lake that smelled like old leaves and dead rats. Mido was beside him, completely enveloped in the sticky substance.

"You're awake!"

Navi's shout caused two things to happen at once. Mido woke, and the Skulltula, dormant only a moment ago, scuttled after her as she began pulling at Link's bonds with her tiny hands. Link pressed his own weight against the cocoon, snapping a few fibers but failing to set himself free entirely before the spider reached him and excreted more silk in an effort to finish the trap.

It was then he noticed the branch protruding from the spider's left eye. "Navi, my arm!"

Turning her attention from his waist, Navi tore at the threads surrounding his right arm. "Help me, Pol!"

"But, but," said Mido's fairy. "Mido told me _not_ to help you!"

"Traitor," said Mido, his voice muffled through the silk. "I'm the stronger of the two; free me first!"

Link clocked Mido's left knee so hard with his boot that the silk enclosing Mido's body ripped from the back, leaving him with nowhere to go but down.

As Mido dropped, the two fairies struggled in vain to free Link's arm. Fresh silk lathered his face like spit, hardening into the same goop he had found at the Deku Tree's peak.

Mido barely had time for a snicker at Link before his fall ended abruptly. A web line clung to his foot, dangling him above the water. "Pol," he said, swooning as the blood rushed to his head, "get down here and help me!"

Link's arm came free an instant later, before the Skulltula had completed its work on his face. Groping for the branch, he wrenched it from the spider's eye and swung it at the web line, cutting Mido loose. With a cry, Mido vanished beneath the surface of the water, leaving bubbles at the point of entry.

Fluttering away from the web, Navi took a breath and speared herself at the spider's one good eye, distracting it long enough for Link to free his other arm and crawl out of the cocoon to the edge of the web.

"Jump!" Navi said.

Link shook his head. "I've got an idea."

The Skulltula thrashed in a blind circle, dripping fluid from both eyes into the lake as it searched for its prey. Link crept to the backside of the web where he could approach its exposed belly. Using both hands to steady himself, he got as close as he dared before tightening his grip on the branch and driving it through the Skulltula's body.

Just then, Mido broke the surface of the water, sword in hand. "Down here, fungus breath!"

Link raised an eyebrow. "How long have you had _that?"_

"None of your business. Just kick it!"

"Kick what?"

"The Skulltula, doofus!"

More out of anger than obedience, Link slammed his feet into the spider's stomach, breaking its hold on the web so that it dropped, with terrible precision, onto the point of Mido's sword.

"Gross!" said Navi.

Mido beamed and mounted the Skulltula's body once it had floated to the surface. "You know," he said, "if Link hadn't gotten us into this mess, we might've broken the curse by now."

Link let go of the web and plunged into the water, joining Mido on top of the spider with a scowl. "I didn't tell you to follow me."

"You'd still be in the web if I hadn't."

"Yeah? Why _did_ you follow me, anyway?"

"Because the Great Deku Tree needed help from someone who knew what he was doing, that's why!"

"Is that it?" The hint of a smile crossed Link's face. "Or are you worried the others might stop taking orders from you if they think you're a coward?"

"Stop," said Navi. "We're wasting time!"

Link gestured at the dark waters ahead. "Lead the way."

Mido grunted and pulled his sword from the Skulltula's eye, using the weapon like an oar to paddle the body over the water. When Link did the same with his shield, their grisly raft made progress.

"I can't believe this," Mido said.

Link nodded. "Us working together?"

"We don't even know what we're looking for."

"Maybe. It could be that monster from last night."

"You think _that's_ the curse?"

A rock hit Link in the chest and bounced into the water. "Hey," he said.

"I didn't do that!" Mido stuck out his lip in protest, and a second rock cracked him on the chin.

Both boys dove into the lake, barely missing the next few volleys, most of which landed harmlessly in the water or pelted the Skulltula.

Link had expected to sink a little before rising back to the surface, but he found the bottom of the lake almost as soon as he fell in. Rolling beneath the Skulltula, he lifted its body up in front of them as a shield.

"Navi, Pol," he said. "See if you can find where those rocks came from."

"Hey," said Mido. "Pol is _my_ fairy."

"You tell her, then."

"Pol. See if you can find where that came from."

Link snorted. "Help me hold this thing up."

Mido stuck his tongue out but moved swiftly to share the burden of pushing the Skulltula's body onto the shore. A sudden fit of squealing told them the fairies had already discovered at least one assailant. Link saw it was the same leaf-headed creature that had escaped from him earlier.

Mido reached the creature first and had already given it a nick with his sword by the time Link caught up with him.

"Stop!" He grabbed Mido's wrist to prevent anything worse from happening. "I've seen this thing before."

"Please forgive me, masters!" The creature's eyes came close to popping under the light of both fairies. "If I give you a clue, will you let me go?"

Link frowned. "Why did you throw those rocks at us?"

"We didn't mean to."

"We?"

"They forced us."

"They?" said Navi.

The creature shuddered. "She'll hurt us if we tell."

"She?" said Mido.

"It's about Queen Gohma."

Link and Mido traded quizzical glances.

"Her eye is her weakness."

"Wait." Link tightened his grip as the creature tried to escape. "Who's Queen Gohma?"

A hail of stones shattered the creature's body before it could answer. Link knelt, stunned, cradling the body as Navi yelled at him to find shelter.

"_Look out!"_

Link and Mido threw themselves to the ground, heeding Navi's warning in time to avoid more rocks sailing overhead.

Link shot Mido an angry look. "Give me the sword!"

For the second time, Mido stuck out his tongue. "Not a chance."

"I'm the better swordsman."

"No you're not."

Link slapped his shield against Mido's nose three times before clapping the other boy's wrist, forcing him to drop the sword. Mido had scarcely begun to reach for it when Link picked it up and cut off his belt with it.

"Yes I am," said Link.

Once more, a wave of rocks forced both boys and their fairies to turn their attention to the threat at hand. Three creatures, exactly like the one that had died in Link's arms, appeared out of the gloom and surrounded them. Despite general inaccuracy, the sheer volume of shots ensured that many rocks scored bruises before Mido or Link could mount a defense.

"Pol! Navi!" Link pointed his sword at the three creatures. "Go!"

The fairies fanned out ahead of them as the rocks came thicker and faster. Mido charged, screaming as he followed Pol right into one creature's face before hitting its eye with a rock and snatching a handful of leaves from its hair. Link swung his sword into another creature's nose, stopping it from shooting more rocks but leaving it otherwise unharmed.

The third creature backed off before Link could reach it. "Please forgive me, masters! If I—"

"Shut up!" Mido kicked the first creature aside before turning his rage on the one that had spoken.

"It's okay." Link lowered his sword, keeping a wary eye on Mido. "Give us your clue."

The creature squirmed. "Queen Gohma forced us into her service."

"How?" said Link.

"The Great Deku Tree is our father. He allowed us to live here—"

Mido interrupted, "What do you mean, he's your father?"

"Let it talk," said Link.

The creature began to shake. "Every acorn that falls from the Deku Tree will grow into a new tree if it's nourished. We were acorns, too, but the evil that breached the forest turned us into something else. We are Deku Scrubs, half tree, half Octorok."

"Since you're part Octorok," said Navi, "that means you'll never grow into a real tree?"

"Yes, yes."

Mido folded his arms. "You killed your friend."

"We were trying to hit _you_. We thought you were enemies."

Link nodded. "Will you lead us to Gohma?"

"No."

"No?"

"She'll kill us."

Mido growled and lunged at the creature. "Maybe I will too if you don't tell us where to find her!

Freed from Mido's attentions, the first creature he had attacked fired a rock from its nostril. The rock smacked against Mido's left palm, stunning him long enough for that creature and one of the others to escape.

While he glanced away to see what was going on, Link forgot to keep an eye on the creature that had been doing most of the talking. By the time he thought of that, all three had escaped into the darkness. "Guess we're on our own," he said.

No one replied, which surprised him a little. He turned to find Mido, Navi, and Pol staring up at the ceiling.

"Look," said Navi.

Link saw nothing at first, but now that the riot with the Deku Scrubs had died down, he could hear it. Rough claws raking fissures in the ceiling. A low hiss slithering along the walls, then something heavy landing in the water.

Navi inched herself closer to Link. "What is it?"

Link's chest prickled with fear as he spoke. "It's Gohma."


	6. The Curse is Broken?

Chapter 5: The Curse is Broken?

_Hoisting high that olive stake with its stabbing point,  
__Straight into the monster's eye they rammed it hard—  
__  
__~Odyssey,_ Book IX

* * *

Gohma.

For Link, Mido, and their two fairies, that was a name that meant death. The death of their old security, of a life with no knowledge or expectation of evil. A name that would mean their own deaths if things went badly in these next few minutes.

The eye of Gohma. A single yellow pupil that glowed brightly enough in the dark for them to notice it, near the ceiling. Seeing them. Staring at them.

"Did you see that?"

Navi's voice jerked Link's focus away from Gohma. "See what?" His words slipped out, barely audible.

Navi flew towards the water. "The lake. Something fell in just a minute ago."

"Another Skulltula?" He knew that was unlikely, even as he said it.

"It was round, I think."

"Hey." Mido sidled up next to him, and for once, that didn't bother Link. "You have that slingshot you had last night?"

Link had already turned his attention back to the eye. "Nothing to shoot with."

"Let me see it. I've got an idea."

Link dug the slingshot out of a pouch at his belt and slapped it into Mido's hands, flicking an irritated look in his direction. "Keep your voice down."

"Look out!" This from Pol and Navi.

Mido and Link glanced instinctively at Gohma's eye. Gone.

"Run!" said Navi, but it was too late.

A black shape crashed down on the shore of the lake, trapping Link and Mido between the way they had come and the unknown behind them. Two legs thick as tree trunks raised and lowered the body as a scream escaped the mouth, filling the area around the lake with its sound and all the fears that sound awoke.

Ignoring those fears, Link rolled through Gohma's legs and found himself under her tail. Something wet and hard thumped him in the head; he realized what it was at once.

An egg. Like the one last night.

Link shivered as he remembered the burning sensation of the hatchling's body fluids on his face. He hacked his sword through the middle of the egg, spearing the creature inside it.

"To the left!" Navi squeaked.

Link dove aside as two more eggs landed on the ground he had just relinquished. Both cracked open upon contact.

"Over here, you!"

Mido's shout did little to prevent Gohma from lifting one of her feet and smashing it down on Link, but Link turned the foot aside by jabbing it with the tip of his sword. The blade didn't penetrate the monster's skin, but it did buy him time to throw himself out of danger for the moment.

The two hatchlings leapt forward. The first ran into Link's Deku Shield. The second hopped over it only to impale itself on Link's sword. Link struggled to remove the blade but found it firmly embedded in the hatchling's body. Grunting and heaving, he dragged the body around with him as he avoided several more stomps from Gohma's feet.

When the blade finally came free, Link sped towards Mido. "You said you had an idea?"

"Bring her over here," Mido said.

"Easy enough." Gohma followed Link closely, making two strides for every ten of his but still keeping up with him. The dead rat stench he had noticed earlier grew stronger the closer she came to him. Just as her foot overshadowed his head again, he jumped over the body of the Deku Scrub, kicking aside dozens of splinters: pieces of the Scrub's wooden body.

"Duck!" said Mido, even as he snapped the band of the slingshot at Gohma's eye.

Link threw himself down, noting that the hatchling he had knocked aside with his shield had recovered and nearly caught up with him.

"Missed!" Mido grumbled and picked up another splinter.

"I'll lead her off," said Link. "Keep trying." He stood up and dashed towards the lake, then ran parallel to the shoreline, putting distance between himself and Gohma.

"Hey, listen!"

Link cracked a smile at Navi's effort to distract the hatchling. Circling back in on the point where they'd crawled out of the lake, he honed in on the hatchling's blindside, risking the danger of Gohma's feet since mother and child ran close together.

A quick overhead slash with both hands cleaved the hatchling's body in two. The force of his own blow surprised Link so much that he stopped to stare at the blood coating the blade as it smoked, making his nostrils twitch.

Once more, Navi's warning saved him from injury. "Look out!"

Gohma's tail ripped into the soil at Link's back, missing his flesh by inches. Whirling, he jammed his shield down to hold the tail in place while he stabbed at it. Again, the blade failed to penetrate the thick skin, so Link grabbed onto the tail and began to climb it—just as it swung upward.

He screamed as the catapult motion tossed him over Gohma's body and nearly fifteen feet through the air before he landed, skidding through the soil by the shore until he hit his head on solid bone and found he had returned to the dead Skulltula.

"What's that smell?" Pol, Mido's fairy, flew back and forth from Mido to Link.

A wave sloshed against the shore. Link tensed as he peeked out at the water. A hatchling stood less than three meters away, dripping water and slime on the ground.

"A minute ago," Link whispered, "you said something round fell in the lake. Did it look like an egg?"

"There could be hundreds of them in that water," said Navi.

"That's what I'm afraid of."

A second hatchling had risen from the water while they were talking, but by that time, Link had turned to face Gohma again. The Queen had paused several feet away to wait, Link guessed, for the rest of her hatchlings to break the water.

"Link…"

Navi's voice was so quiet that it took him a minute to realize she'd spoken. "What?"

"You'd better turn around."

"Oh!" Blood drained from Link's face like rain sliding down a wall. Dozens of hatchlings had appeared in the water, their antennae wriggling above the surface. The number of ripples around them suggested many more stirring beneath the surface.

Navi hovered at his ear. "The faceplate."

_The faceplate._ Link stared at the Skulltula's bony carapace. _How is that supposed to help?_

All at once, the line of hatchlings began moving forward, forcing him to make a decision. Time slowed as his thoughts sped up. His hands moved toward the faceplate as hatchlings leapt at him in pairs. He heard the sound of Gohma's tail lashing through the air.

Moving quickly, he snatched up the faceplate and used it like a spring to toss the first hatchling behind him. Gohma's tail, instead of impaling _him,_ sunk in through the hatchling's eye and out through its back, stopping right above the faceplate and dripping venom onto the bone.

Link flung the faceplate down and pushed himself up, darting beneath Gohma to rejoin Mido on the other side.

"What took you so long?" Mido grinned, holding a handful of splinters.

"Never mind—shoot!" Link cast a fleeting glance behind him.

Mido dropped to one knee and placed three splinters in the band of the slingshot, hiding the sweat on his face and his trembling hands by keeping himself out of Pol's light as much as he could. When Gohma had turned to face them, he let go of the band.

One splinter sailed wide, but the other two pierced the center of the monster's iris, causing her to rear up before collapsing on the ground with her legs askew.

"Your sword!" said Navi, but Link was already on the move, his Kokiri Sword slicing through the darkness. The blade cut into the eye of Gohma, finishing the work the splinters had started. He watched as the dying monster thrashed about, dragging her punctured eye with her to the lake. Her hatchlings, losing interest in their prey, followed their mother into the water.

It happened when Gohma's eye touched the water. Blue flames erupted along her body, spreading to the shore and engulfing hatchlings within a twelve-foot radius. Steam shot from the eye and burned what was left of the Skulltula's webs above them. Within a half-minute, the fires had covered her and the surrounding area completely.

With the loss of their Queen and mother, the hatchlings scattered, some bursting in a shower of corrosive body fluids, some drowning in the lake, some simply keeling over. Mido and Link took it all in, ignoring their own exhaustion for now. Even Navi and Pol remained silent.

It may have been the lack of sleep or food. It may have been the worry they had been trying to ignore since they saw what was happening to the Great Deku Tree. Maybe Gohma had released a toxin to the air as she died. Whatever the case, when the chaos around the lake finally ceased, Mido and Link crumpled as one, two boys that had spent themselves in a battle they should never have had to fight.


	7. Saria's Song

Chapter 6: Saria's Song

_Pure essence, and pure matter, and the two  
__Joined into one were shot forth without flaw,  
__Like three bright arrows from a three-string bow._

~Dante's _Paradiso_

* * *

_"Well done, Link. Thou hast verily demonstrated thy courage."_

Link came to under the Deku Tree's shadow, lying on his back in the grass with Navi. Mido and Pol were nowhere to be found, but that would soon be the least of his worries.

"_I have yet more to tell ye."_

He sat up, swallowing when he saw the drooping leaves, rotting bark, and sagging branches of the Tree in the morning light.

"_Wouldst thou listen?"_

He rolled onto his left side and found his weapons lying beside him. He closed his eyes. "How did we get here?"

"_This matters not. Thou wast brought here by my power, and that is enough."_

"Mido? Saria?"

"_They are safe while my power remains."_

This was little comfort, considering the Tree's condition, but Link was wise enough to remain silent on that point. "I'm listening, Great Deku Tree."

"_Then listen carefully,"_ said the Tree, his voice rising to encompass the scope of his tale. _"A wicked man of the desert cast this curse upon me. This evil man ceaselessly uses his vile, sorcerous power in his search for the Sacred Realm that is connected to Hyrule."_

Link fell back to the ground with a gasp. He could no longer see the forest around him. Instead, that same man with the red cape who had haunted his dreams was before him in a waking vision. All was black around the two of them except for a wall of fire that separated one from the other. The man rode through the flames unharmed, his black horse snorting beneath him. Thankfully, he didn't seem to notice Link.

"_For it is in that Sacred Realm," _the Tree went on, his voice heard from a distance, _"that one will find the divine relic, the Triforce, which contains the essence of the gods…"_

The vision changed. Now Link was floating in a sky so vast and so empty that it would have been impossible to tell whether he was facing up or down except for the rain, for there were no trees, no ground, and no mountains to help him fix his position.

"_Before time began, before spirits and life existed, three golden goddesses descended upon the chaos that was Hyrule."_

From somewhere above him, three streaks of light shot down through the void: one red, one blue, one green.

"_Din, the goddess of power. Nayru, the goddess of wisdom. Farore, goddess of courage."_

For a moment, Link thought he saw human shapes within those three lights. They were like women, but their bodies seemed made of gold.

"_Din. With her strong flaming arms, she cultivated the land and created the red earth."_

Now he witnessed landforms rising out of the void. Valleys, hills, plains, the basins of lakes, and the razor-sharp peaks of the mountains.

"_Nayru poured her wisdom onto the earth and gave the spirit of law to the world."_

A blue comet speared its way across the sky of newborn Hyrule, and Link felt ideas of right and wrong and good and evil in his heart as if for the first time.

"_Farore, with her rich soul, produced all life forms who would uphold the law."_

Creatures of the land, sea, and air paraded before Link's eyes, most of which he only knew of from the Tree's stories. The Gorons. The Zoras. The Gerudos. Birds and beasts of many varieties. A shiver of awe passed through his body. Could all this have really happened once?

"_The three great goddesses, their labors completed, departed for the heavens—and golden sacred triangles remained at the point where the goddesses left the world. Since then, the sacred triangles have become the basis of our world's providence. And the resting place of the triangles has become the Sacred Realm."_

As the Tree's voice began to fade, Link watched the three lights representing the three goddesses return the way they had come, their paths intersecting at a point so far from Hyrule as to appear unreachable. But as they came together, a light exploded from the heavens, shining down even to the furthest corners of the earth.

And the goddesses vanished, yet where Link had seen them only a moment ago, he saw _it_ instead. Three golden triangles. _No,_ he thought. Not three. Three in one. One in three.

The Triforce.

* * *

Link panted for breath, assaulted by images and ideas that would haunt him forever.

The rider. The flames. The creation of the world.

These things whirled about him, striking nerves and sealing their place in his memory; but he realized that the Great Deku Tree had more to say to him, even after the visions had ended and his prospect of the clearing had been restored.

"_Thou must never allow the desert man in black armor to lay his hands upon the sacred Triforce. Thou must never suffer that man, with his evil heart, to enter the Sacred Realm of legend. That man, who cast the death curse upon me and sapped my power—because of his curse, my end is nigh."_

Link had thought he was ready for this moment. After all, it came as little surprise. But how little he knew of his own nature, he thought, as the despair erupted in his heart. "That can't be true." A sob broke from his lips. "You knew it the whole time, didn't you?"

_"Yes. Though your valiant efforts to break the curse were successful, I was doomed before you started. I will pass away soon…but do not grieve for me, for I have been able to tell you of these important matters."_

"What about _us?_ How can the Kokiri…how can we survive without…"

The Tree's voice came in a whisper. _"Link, this is Hyrule's final hope: you must go now to Hyrule Castle. There, thou shalt surely meet with the Princess of Destiny."_

Link paled. "What good am I to Hyrule if I can't even help _you?"_

_"Your strength will grow in time."_

The gravity of the small boy's fate nearly broke him. "I can't do it. I can't face him. That man."

_"Link!"_ The Tree's voice grew strong for the last time._ "Take this stone with you! It is the stone that man wanted so much, that he cast the curse upon me."_

Link felt his hands go up, though he knew it was not his will, but the Tree's will that moved them. A greenish light seared his vision, and the stone landed in his palms a moment later.

It was an emerald cupped in a sheath of gold.

_"This is the Kokiri Emerald, the Spiritual Stone of the Forest. You must guard it with your life. The future depends on thee, Link. Thou art courageous…"_

"I…" Link's lips scarcely moved. "I'll try." In that moment, the only security he knew had vanished. The shock of that pricked tears from his eyes and nearly doubled him over on the ground.

_"Navi the fairy, help Link to carry out my will. Be a constant companion to him, I entreat ye."_

Both of them glanced up as a shudder rattled the Tree's roots, racing up through his trunk and out through his branches.

_"Good bye, my dear children…"_

Navi's wings failed her, and she fell to the soil just as an acorn broke off from the Tree and landed at her feet.

"Good bye, Great Deku Tree," she whispered, unable to take her eyes off the acorn.

* * *

Link wept, acutely aware of the silence around him as he stumbled away from the clearing. Nothing, not even the songs of birds or insects, broke the stillness.

His hand came away from his face stained with tears. His legs barely carried the weight of his boots.

"How could this happen?" he said, craning for a glimpse of the sky and those sacred triangles, to no avail. "If you cared enough to create this world, why aren't you taking care of it? You don't need my help."

He stopped, turned, and screamed towards the clearing where his world, as he knew it, had changed forever. "Tell me why!"

Silence. Then another voice from close by.

"Hey, Link! What did you do?"

His head snapped around. Mido.

"The Great Deku Tree." Mido glared at him. "Did he die?"

Link hung his head slightly but did not reply.

"How could you do a thing like that?"

Link scrunched his fists.

"It's all your fault!"

The punch came without warning, flipping Mido on his back with a broken nose.

Link ran, keeping to the woods as he headed north and west, out of the forest. He could see his house through the trees, but he dared not enter the village. He had to get out. Now.

Before anyone else saw him.

* * *

The bridge leading out of Kokiri Forest hung over a valley between the forest and the world outside. Every Kokiri had crossed onto that bridge at one time or another, but none had dared cross all the way.

Link tore out of the woods and onto the bridge at full tilt, determined not to look back. Navi struggled to keep up with him, but she never told him to slow down, because she knew why he was running.

They were halfway across the bridge when she appeared.

"Oh, you're leaving…"

Link ground to a halt. How long had she been waiting there? He turned, struggling to keep his expression neutral as he gazed back at the one person in his life he knew he could call a true friend.

"Saria."

Saria took a breath and stepped forward. "I knew that you would leave the forest someday, Link, because you are different from me and my friends."

"Because I'm not a true Kokiri."

"Yes, you are!" Her hands shook, almost imperceptibly. "It was never the fairies that made us so; it's our hearts. It's our relationship with _him!"_

She pulled something from a pouch at her waist. Link stared at it, her most precious possession: an oval-shaped instrument with seven small holes.

"The Fairy Ocarina," said Navi, unable to keep quiet any longer.

"You're different," Saria said, "because you're stronger. You were always meant to see the outside world for yourself. And that's okay, because we'll be friends forever, won't we?"

"Yes," Link whispered, ashamed he had doubted her sincerity even for a moment.

"I want you to have my ocarina. I know you'll take good care of it." She raised the instrument to her lips. "But first…"

Link closed his eyes to listen to Saria's song, expecting a melancholy tune that would remind him of the death of the Great Deku Tree, his leaving the forest, and other nightmares real and imagined. Instead, what he got was a lively tune, a symbol of what the forest had been once, a symbol of Saria's friendship and the stories of Hyrule that had been sown in his heart by the Tree.

When she finished, her hands reached out to his, slipping the ocarina into his grasp along with the pouch she had taken it from and a vial of water. "There should be enough there for your journey to Hyrule Castle."

"How did you know where I was going?"

"The Tree told me himself, just before you and Mido broke the curse." She sighed and withdrew her hands. "When you play my ocarina, I hope you will think of me and come back to the forest to visit."

The thought of leaving began to overwhelm him more than ever. Why was he doing this? To honor the Tree's wishes? To protect Saria? Did he even have a chance, or had the Tree been wrong?

_Maybe this _is _our only chance._ Link backed up slowly, shaking his head. He knew if he didn't leave now, he would lose his resolve, and that meant he would never find out if the stories were true.

Looking at Saria, he felt the tears beginning in his face again, and he couldn't stand it any longer. _No._ Whirling without a word of goodbye or a thank you for the gift she had given him, he crossed the bridge at a sprint and vanished into the last line of trees that marked the edges of the forest.

Saria's chin fell, and a lone tear dropped from the corner of her left eye to the valley below the bridge.

* * *

**This week, I decided to upload three chapters instead of two. Chapter 6 just seemed like a better place to leave it hanging than Chapter 5. I remember reading a letter in _Nintendo Power_ years ago from a gamer who said they cried when Link left Saria without saying a word. Gotta say that part always resonated with me, too.**

**Thanks for reading, and keep your eyes (or eye, if you're Gohma) peeled for the rest in the coming weeks!**


	8. Hyrule Castle Town

Chapter 7: Hyrule Castle Town

_Pursuing it with eager feet,  
__Until it joins some larger way,  
__Where many paths and errands meet.  
__And whither then? I cannot say._

~_The Fellowship of the Ring_

* * *

The first thought that crossed Link's mind was that he had never known sunlight until now, when he took his first steps out of the forest. The strain of it on his pupils soon lessened, but he couldn't get over how bright it was.

Navi brushed his shoulder. "Look at that, Link."

_How could I miss it,_ he was tempted to say. Instead, he simply nodded. Rolling hills and blooming meadows stretched into the horizon on all sides, dappled by the occasional pine tree or evergreen. The sky gaped overhead, blue and cloudless and so much larger than the small slice of it he could see from clearings in the forest. Here and there, he caught the scent of clover or a flower he recognized, but most of the smells were as new to him as the sights.

"Hyrule Field," he said, taking in the panorama while goose bumps rippled through his arms.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?" said Navi.

Something in the tone of her voice gave him pause. "You've never seen it, either?"

"I'm just like you. I've never been outside the forest."

"I was hoping you'd know more than I do." He frowned at her, then at the landscape. "I remember things the Great Deku Tree said _about _the city, just not where it was at."

"I guess you paid more attention to people and battles and things like that, huh?"

"That's a pretty good guess."

"Well," Navi huffed, "at least I know the right direction. We go west and then north. We should be able to see the city from that hilltop over there."

"Thank you." He took one step forward, then another, hesitating for one last glance at the forest behind him before his stride lengthened in the direction of the hill Navi had indicated.

* * *

By the time he crested the hill, Link was out of breath, but that was only partly due to bodily exertion. New sights, sounds, and smells continued to greet him everywhere he turned, but it was the view of the royal city, just a few miles to the north, that affected him the most.

Even at this distance and without the foul weather to trigger the memory, he recognized the area surrounding the city gates: a drawbridge running over a small moat. The scene of his dream encounter with the man from the desert.

In the dream, he had been alone. This time, he saw cattle, horse-drawn wagons, and travelers on foot jostling their way into the city. A faint whiff of grease and sweat and meat grilling on skewers reached him on the breeze blowing from the north.

"Can you see it?"

Link didn't have to ask what Navi meant; he had already glimpsed the spires of Hyrule Castle rising deep within the city's outer wall before she spoke. "I don't like to say it, but…"

"What?"

"His stories didn't even come close to describing _this."_

"Maybe they weren't supposed to."

He shrugged and chomped down on a bit of roast Octorok from the pouch Saria had given him, washing it down with a gulp from the vial of water. "Let's go."

"Don't you think you should rest?"

"Navi," he said, "we're this close to the biggest city in Hyrule. The King, the princess, the Knights of Hyrule. Everything from the stories. Now that we're here, do you think I'd miss that for anything?"

* * *

They reached the drawbridge by early afternoon. In the preceding hours, traffic going in and out of the city had slowed to a crawl; those early to market who lived outside the city headed for home with their purchases while latecomers straggled in, and the two clogged the entrance to the city with human and animal bodies as they struggled to be on their way.

In such an environment, it was easy for a boy of twelve and the fairy hiding inside his pouch of rations to slip through largely unnoticed. Once past the gates, they relaxed somewhat. There was little chance that anyone here could be aware of their purpose, and besides that, they had made good progress. Their biggest problem would be finding the princess and convincing her to help them, whatever that meant.

A crowd of children frolicked near the center of the city square, their squeals of joy and rough-and-tumble antics being a source of relative calm amidst the chaos around them. Some of their parents looked on, while others played unsupervised. A pack of stray dogs had found their way to the children and joined in the fun, licking at heels, yapping, and gobbling up stray crumbs dropped by the young humans.

Link rubbed his stomach. "I've never seen so much food in my life."

"But you just ate," said Navi. "How can you be hungry already?"

"You're a fairy. You wouldn't understand."

"Hey. Just because I don't eat doesn't mean I—"

Her voice trailed off as Link disappeared into the crowd surrounding the food merchants at the west end of the square. "Wait!" She buzzed after him with an irritated squeak and found him eyeing a row of glass bottles on display next to cuts of beef and baskets of white and brown eggs.

"That stuff inside the bottles." Link scratched his head. "That's milk, isn't it? The Great Deku Tree said it comes from an animal."

"They're called cows," said Navi.

Link licked his lips. "I'll bet it's delicious."

A girl roughly his own age with fierce red hair and lightly freckled cheeks spoke up from the other side of the booth. "It's not just delicious; it's the best milk in all Hyrule."

Link ran a finger along the surface of one of the bottles. "Can I have some?"

The girl laughed. "Sure, if you've got money in your pocket. Which I doubt."

Link hadn't thought of that. Money was something the Kokiri had little use for, since most of life's necessities could be gathered from the surrounding woods.

"We're wasting time," said Navi. "Don't you think we should be looking for you-know-who?"

"Sorry." Link cast a fleeting look of regret at the glass bottles and turned back towards the center of the square.

"Wait." The girl called after him before he had gotten more than a few feet away from the booth. "Your clothes. They're different. You're not from around here, are you?" She saw the frown on his face and added, "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to. It's just that you don't look like a farmer or a merchant or any of the other people we see here every day."

He smiled. "Call me Link." With that, he melted back into the crowd.

When they were safely out of earshot, Navi hissed in his ear. "That was close. You shouldn't talk to anyone unless you have to."

Link shrugged. "If you're worried someone will find out where we're from, maybe _you_ should stay hidden. If it's someone who knows about fairies and the Kokiri, seeing you would be more dangerous than seeing my clothes."

"If I have to hide next to that roast Octorok again, I think I'd rather get caught."

They passed the group of children in the center of the square. Most of them capered about in groups of three or four, but one girl stood by herself, cuddling a dog so shaggy Link wondered that it could see at all. _I know what it's like to feel alone,_ he thought, seeing the lone girl and the lone dog together.

Not looking where he was going, he bumped into something rough and excused himself. He tried to step around the object—a giant backpack hanging from the shoulders of a man far too skinny to be carrying so much weight—but the man hailed him in a squeaky voice.

"Say there. You look like a young man who enjoys a fine spectacle."

"Uh huh." Link feigned to the left, but the backpack blocked his path.

"Care to be one of the first to wear our new Keaton model?" The man pulled a cheap paper mask from one of the pack's many hidden pockets. "This is only a prototype, of course. The real mask is available for a small fee over there," he said, pointing to the northeast corner of the square, "at the Happy Mask Shop."

"He doesn't have any money," Navi said.

"My compliments." The man pressed the mask into Link's hands with a bow. "This one is free of charge."

Link stared at it. The mask reminded him of a fox, only it was bright yellow. "Thanks."

The man bowed again and shuffled off to the group of children.

Link held the mask up for Navi's inspection. "What am I supposed to do with this?"

"Maybe you should wear it." Navi spun around him in a circle. "Everyone else is."

Link had avoided eye contact with others as much as possible, but now he stared at the other children and even the men and women and realized that he was one among many wearing the Keaton prototype. There were other masks, too, and as he searched the crowd, he noticed that the man with the giant backpack had helpers, most of them with smaller backpacks, all of them distributing the paper masks.

"My Keaton mask is better than yours."

This remark was so loud in his ear that Link assumed it was meant for him, but when he turned to address the speaker, he saw two boys wrestling close by. Immediately, he thought of himself and Mido. He strapped the mask on and listened.

"Why are they giving them to us for free?" The boy who appeared to be losing the bout grunted. "They never did that before."

"That's because you've never _been_ here when they did that," said the boy who had spoken first. "My dad says the Happy Mask Shop gives away masks on important days like this one, especially if they're happy _and _important days."

"What's so happy about the Gerudos coming? _My_ dad says they're dirty desert people."

"Maybe they're going to promise the King to stop taking stuff from all of us."

"Why do they have to promise? Why can't they just stop doing it?"

"I heard that if they write their names on a piece of paper while the King is watching, it means they really, really promise."

Link shuddered and moved on. _If the desert people are coming here, _he thought, _that means _he _might be, too._ It seemed that wherever he went, he was constantly reminded of that man the Great Deku Tree had warned him about, that man with the red cape that haunted his dreams.

"You're worried, aren't you?"

He snorted at Navi's question. "Why would I be worried?"

"Because the Great Deku Tree asked you to do something he couldn't do himself. To stop that man from taking what he wants."

Link said nothing, but the slump of his shoulders was answer enough. _Why is it me? Why don't the Knights of Hyrule fight him? Why not the King?_

Even as he nurtured these thoughts, he noticed an odd change in the crowd's behavior. Instead of arguing over the price of cloth or greeting friends from neighboring villages, people traded whispers and uneasy glances as they parted to either side of the square, packing the east and west-most sections so that the path running north from the southern end of the square lay open.

Some of the children playing at the center of the square were slow to realize what was happening around them. Those with parents nearby were called, pulled, or carried away in due course, but a few remained oblivious, including the little girl and the dog playing by themselves.

Link watched, riveted in place as four women wearing silk pantaloons and carrying long spears marched down the middle of the path that had been cleared for them. They never looked at the crowd; they simply crossed from one end of the square to the other, stopped, and turned to await the rest of their party.

They all heard the clatter of hooves on the drawbridge just outside the square, then the clatter of hooves on cobblestone, and finally the horses appeared at the south end of the square, opposite the guards that had just entered. Instead of slowing, the three riders at the head of the column charged through, showing the same contempt for their surroundings that the guards had.

Link had lost all color the moment the riders came into view. "It's him," he whispered.

Navi, finally heeding what Link had said about staying out of sight, spoke from inside the food pouch. "How do you know?"

"I saw him—twice. Once, in a dream. Then I saw him again when the Great Deku Tree was talking about him, just before he…died."

The man's sudden appearance would have been terror enough, but Link understood, with a chill that came from the certainty of disaster, that the girl and the shaggy dog would be killed in a matter of seconds unless someone intervened.

A man broke from the crowd at the corner of the square farthest from the little girl. He ran with the urgency of a father, calling out a name as he ran. But he was too far away to reach her before the horses did.

Link tensed every muscle in his body, taking deep breaths. _I've been here fifteen minutes, _he thought, _and I'm about to risk everything to help someone who can't possibly help me. What an idiot._

With that firmly in his mind, he darted into the middle of the square, only a short distance back the way he had come, and shoved the paralyzed girl with the dog in her arms out of the path of the oncoming horses. In doing so, he lost his balance and fell on his stomach just as the riders plowed through.

The hooves of that man's horse came within millimeters of his face and limbs, but Din and her sisters must have been watching over him after all, Link thought, for he escaped injury and death and even the man's notice, apparently, since he never looked back or showed any sign of having observed the close call he and his companions had been part of.

"What happened?" Navi flew from her hiding place into the open air as Link recovered himself and stumbled towards the crowd at the west end of the square. "You didn't…"

"Yes," he said. "I did."

Behind them, the other riders waiting near the drawbridge followed their leader across the square. Four more guards on foot brought up the rear of the party, cementing themselves at the center of the square.

At this, a woman beside Link cursed. "They act as if they'd conquered the place. As if an invitation from _our_ King meant they could be themselves while they were here."

A few of the townspeople gave Link a cursory glance. He was thankful they couldn't see his face through the Keaton mask and even more thankful that they turned away without saying a word about his courage or stupidity or whatever it was that had driven him to do what he had just done. Probably, they were too busy worrying about the desert people.

The father of the little girl did scan the crowd for a glimpse of his daughter's savior, but by that time Link had already moved out of sight, heading for the north end of the square and the road to the castle.

Before he had gone much farther, he stopped. A pair of Gerudos—the name he had heard the townsfolk whisper around the desert people—stood in his path. Their eyes wandered over the crowd, but if they had seen him, they betrayed no sign of it. Maybe they weren't looking for him. Why should they be? To them, he was just another street rat.

"We'll be better off if you just stay out of…" The word "sight" died on his lips, not because Navi had burrowed into the food pouch before he thought to ask, but because someone had pushed him to the ground—hard.

"Race you to the alley!"

Link picked himself up in a daze, recognizing two of the children from the center of the square as they ran past him. _What was that about?_

He tried once more to make his way out of the square, but someone grabbed the back of his shirt and started dragging him towards the buildings at the west end of the square.

"Come on, I thought you said you wanted to roast some Deku Nuts with us!"

Another boy jogged alongside the one holding Link's shirt. "And don't act like a Cuckoo this time. You've got to stay close to the fire when they go off!"

"Stop it," said Navi. "Leave him alone. Who—"

Link struggled to free himself from their grip, but he was too bewildered to offer more than a half-hearted effort. Was it a custom among the people of Hyrule Castle Town to assault strangers, he wondered, or was something else going on here? But the question itself was even stranger than the boys' actions. No one knew him here.

So who were these boys, and where were they taking him?

The four boys, still carrying Link, entered a narrow alley between two large buildings. One building appeared to be a business, the other a house of some kind. Even with the sun still lighting the streets, shadows draped most of the cobblestones here.

Finally, after turning a corner so that they could no longer see or be seen from the square, the boys deposited Link on the ground, and he collapsed to his hands and knees, shaken and not altogether sure he would ever make it to the castle.

"Well done," said a cold female voice from the shadows.

Link sucked in a breath as if it would be his last. One of the boys approached the shadows, holding none other than the Kokiri Emerald, the Spiritual Stone of the Forest entrusted to _him_ by the Great Deku Tree. The Stone the Tree had died to protect. The boy gave it to the woman with a sigh of reluctance, but his scowl changed to a grin when she tossed him a handful of gems to share amongst himself and his companions. The boys scampered away with scarcely a look behind them.

How had his identity and his mission been discovered so quickly? Had this woman bribed the boys to take him here so that his kidnapping appeared less obvious? Did she plan to turn him over to that man from his dreams?

At last, the woman stepped forward, still partly enshrouded by the darkness, but far enough into the light so that Link could make out most of her features. Tall, lean but muscular, with hair slightly grayed and arms folded across a chest protected by a silver plate of armor, the woman seemed made for the shadows.

"Clumsy," she said, rapping the Spiritual Stone against her side with a clenched fist.

"How did you—I mean how did they get that?" Link flushed. "I mean, it's not _that_ important, but I, I…"

She waited until he had stammered himself into silence, then she sighed. "That was a brave deed, but in allowing yourself to become consumed by the thought of the girl's death, you lost track of something no less important. As you fell under the horse's hooves, the stone fell out onto the street. One of the children had the foresight to retrieve it."

The natural light Navi's body emitted gave Link a better view of the woman as the fairy hovered closer to her. "Who are you?" The fairy's voice still betrayed a tone of suspicion.

"Does it matter who I am?" The woman's expression never changed, but Link felt her eyes pierce him as she dropped the Spiritual Stone into one of the pouches at his waist. "I could take this stone where you would never find it, and you would have come here for nothing."

Link swallowed. "What are you going to do to me?"

The woman eyed him for a while longer, until he felt he would wither beneath her stare. "What I do to you is of as little matter as my name. I suspect you are here for the same reason I have come to you."

"I don't understand."

"No. You could not be expected to comprehend your destiny yet." The woman's eyes tightened. "Perhaps it was fortunate that you were clumsy. The stone and the fairy allowed me to be certain of your identity before I acted."

"But it doesn't make sense," said Navi. "If you wanted to talk to us, why did you need those children? Why didn't you just come to us yourself?"

The corner of the woman's mouth curled up just enough for Link to notice. "With the crowds and my ability to cling to the shadows, there is a good chance I might have avoided the notice of the Gerudos. But I am known to them, and had I been seen with you, my involvement in the matter you are part of would have been obvious and would have hurt not only myself, but another whose wellbeing I am responsible for."

Link began to tremble. "Do you think they might have seen the stone?"

"If so, there is nothing any of us can do to change that at this point." The woman sighed, lifted the Keaton mask from Link's face, and let it fall to the ground. "Be thankful that none saw your face, at least."

Link had almost forgotten about the mask. "So why _did_ you come to me?"

"That," said the woman, "is a question I must let _her _answer. Come."


	9. Zelda

Chapter 8: Zelda

_But she touched my heart with a sudden delight,  
__Like a cowslip-blossom…and the sweetest flowers of spring._

~R.D. Blackmore,_ Lorna Doone_

* * *

To the west, the evening sun glimmered over Hyrule Castle, bathing it in a fierce orange light. Link and Navi followed closely in the steps of the woman from the square as she led them on a zigzagging path across the grounds. Knights had been stationed at every strategic point, but she seemed to know exactly where their blind spots would be, leading both boy and fairy to believe she had been here many times before.

"Do you think we can trust her?" Link tried to keep his voice low, but he was almost sure the woman could hear him.

"I don't like it, but if she was with the Gerudos, I think she would've betrayed us by now," said Navi.

"She did stop me from walking right past the Gerudos. They probably saw me with the stone anyway, but it would have been easier for them to follow me if those boys hadn't taken me away to see her. I think she knows what she's doing."

"I think she knows more than she says about the Spiritual Stone."

"I think she's taking us to see the princess."

"Why don't you ask her?"

Before one of them could address her, the woman suddenly appeared behind them, at Link's shoulder. "Keep silent. You will not be out of danger for some time."

Link flinched. "Are there always this many guards?"

"There are many, yes, but the King has been more cautious than usual in his plans for the Gerudo delegation. There are some who believe that peace with that race is not only impossible, but dangerous. They would stop at little to see talks disrupted."

"How are we getting in?" At the glare she gave him, Link clamped his mouth shut. _I know, I know. How we're getting in is of as little matter as your name,_ he thought.

Around him, he heard flocks of crows cackling as they descended to their nests. The sound reminded him of his nightmares. He shuddered and bit off the end of a hunk of bread.

* * *

"You want me to hide in there?"

Link eyed the crate with a shiver. The woman had led him to the north end of the castle, to a door used mainly by merchants and servants. Just outside the door, three wooden crates sat waiting to be delivered to the keeper of the cellar. Beside them, a man—probably the same man who had delivered them—lay snoring.

"What's inside it?" said Navi.

The woman pried off the topmost panel of the crate she had indicated. This proved to be a simple task, since the panel had been only lightly secured for the sake of convenience. Inside, half-melted ice and soggy clumps of hay separated rows of glass bottles like the ones Link had pined for at the market.

"Milk." He licked his lips, then frowned. "Why can't we sneak in now? If it was so easy for you to get us past the guards outside, the guards inside shouldn't be—"

The woman quickly shook her head. "I did not participate in the security arrangements for the Gerudo delegation; it is likely there will be additional patrols that I am not familiar with, as there were on the grounds outside."

"You sure _looked_ like you knew where you were going," said Navi.

"The dangers outside are easier to anticipate. Even I cannot see around corners or through walls inside the castle. One surprise could destroy everything. The best chance of seeing you safely inside is in front of you."

Link held the frown for a moment longer before a grin broke out on his face. "You'll have to move some of the milk out of there to make room, right? I promise not to complain if you let me have some of it."

The woman reached into the crate, pulled the stopper out of a bottle of milk, and handed it to Link, who promptly guzzled it down with a sigh of contentment. Meanwhile, she turned her attention to the snoring lump on the ground.

"That's okay, hon. Let Ingo take care of that," the man muttered in between snores. "You just worry about the horses…"

Fingering the shell of a small nut between thumb and forefinger, the woman gazed at the man for a minute or two, allowing the babble to continue. Suddenly, she hurled the nut down at the man's feet, where it exploded in a flash of light, a puff of smoke, and a crack loud enough to break the spell of slumber.

"What in tarnation? Can't a person get a little shut-eye around here?" The man grunted and sat up with his back against the closest crate. Rubbing his eyes, he peered around until he found Link. "And who might you be?"

"I'm Link. This is Navi."

"Don't you have anything better to do than disturb a fellow's rest?"

"Well…" Link glanced around for any sight of guards. "Yes, I do, actually."

The man didn't seem to hear him, but he had taken a peculiar interest in the sky. "Oh boy. Evening already?"

The woman from the square folded her arms. "You are Talon, the owner of Lon Lon Ranch."

"That's me."

"You have a daughter. One who manages your affairs in the market while you make your deliveries to the castle."

"Malon!" The man's eyes widened as he wiped nervous sweat from his forehead. "I messed up bad, leaving her behind for so long. I'm gonna catch it from her now!" With the cry of a man being chased by rabid dogs, he jerked to his feet and scurried off across the grounds without further ado, drawing a string of guards after him.

"Now." The woman began to empty the crate of bottles, leaving most of the hay at the bottom for comfort. "You will spend the night here. If you value your life and your destiny, do not make a sound. In the morning, you will be sent for."

* * *

In the highest room of the tallest tower in Hyrule Castle, she stirred as her curse came upon her again and her mind began to lose the distinction between reality and the dream-world. It had been worse than usual of late, and she thought that might be because of their visitors from the west. Their presence _had_ made her uneasy, more so than she cared to admit.

Something rustled in the dark. Was it part of a dream, or was it really happening? She held her breath and lay as still as possible before opening one eye to look on her bedchamber.

She stifled a cry of surprise and fear. Someone _was_ in her room, rifling through her belongings. Man or woman? She couldn't tell. Whoever it was moved cautiously, but not so carefully that they never made noise.

What thief would be foolish enough to try robbing the castle with the Knights of Hyrule _and_ the delegation from the Gerudos present?

Unless it _was_ a Gerudo.

That thought was even more terrifying, because it suggested that the clouds from her dream were gathering more quickly than she had anticipated.

Impa. Where was Impa? _Impa!_

She wanted to call out but dared not speak for fear of alerting the thief. Could they be searching for it? For the Ocarina?

Because of the nature of her dreams, she had taken the extra precaution of sleeping with the instrument at her bosom each night that past week, certain that _someone_ out there in Hyrule would be after it sooner or later.

Now she was glad of the precaution. Unless they were prepared to assault her directly, the thief would get nothing tonight.

She breathed a sigh of relief. Silence remained for nearly five minutes, until she began to think the thief had vanished.

Then torchlight from the hallway outside revealed the outline of an almost-bald skull and a red cape hanging from broad shoulders.

He was here. He was watching her. Could he tell she was awake?

"Now is not the time," he whispered, so that she wondered if he was only talking to himself or to her or both. "But soon. You'll not frustrate my plans forever."

* * *

Dawn's rays had been streaming over the castle for more than an hour when Link heard voices and felt someone lifting the crate he had slept in. Beside him, Navi stirred but remained silent.

They heard a grunt, near enough to make them jump. "What's in this? I thought Impa said it was milk."

"Yes," another voice replied.

"Heavier than I expected. The princess must be thirsty this morning, or she plans on entertaining some of the Gerudos."

"Yes."

"Why would she entertain them in the courtyard and not in her private chambers?"

"You would do better not to inquire into matters that concern the Royal Family only."

With that, both men fell silent, and the only sound Link heard was the sound of their footsteps and the rattling of the crate as they carried him to some other part of the castle. Immediately after he had crawled his way into the crate the night before, the woman from the square had brought him to the castle cellar deep underground, having removed all of the ice and the majority of the milk to keep him comfortable and balance the weight and mass of the crate as much as possible.

_I wonder if the Great Deku Tree had any idea how this would turn out,_ he thought. _How much stranger will it get?_

He had a feeling the answer to that question would be terrible and wonderful at once, though nothing concerned him just then as much as getting out of that crate and stretching his tired muscles—not to mention sneaking a few more draughts of milk.

Finally, after a journey of jolts and jerks that seemed interminable, the men lowered the crate to the ground, and Link said a prayer of thanks to Din, Nayru, and Farore.

"You may return to your duties."

This last voice he recognized as the voice of the woman from the square.

The men said nothing, but Link heard their footsteps receding in the distance. Someone tore the lid from the crate, and sunlight blazed into his eyes as it had when he first left the forest. Slowly, he stood up out of the crate, rubbing joints to get the blood flowing and brushing the hay from his grass-colored tunic.

The first thing he looked for was the woman from the square, but she had already disappeared, and—though he felt sure he had heard her voice only a moment ago—he found himself wondering if she had been there at all.

"It's her," said Navi.

The fairy's observation was so quiet that Link didn't let it register at first. Instead, he stared at their surroundings. The crate had been placed near the center of a small courtyard. In the background, he heard the trickling of a stream. In front of him, he saw a flowerbed inhabited by a dozen butterflies. Walls enclosed the courtyard on three sides; except for a window each, these walls were bare.

Beyond the flowerbed, a stairway with three steps led to a platform facing the centermost of the three windows. A girl stood looking in at that window with her back to him.

"It's her," he said.

Navi's quiet immediately gave way to excitement. "Hi!"

The greeting startled the girl's attention away from whatever she had been looking at through the window. She turned to face them, holding a delicate white hand beneath her chin. "Oh!"

The fairy landed on the steps in front of the girl, her wings slowing to a stop. "Sorry. I didn't mean to scare you."

As the girl found her breath, she glanced at her two visitors, her keen eyes belying her tender appearance. "No. It is I who should apologize for not receiving you properly. Had there been a safer way to bring you inside the castle, we would gladly have taken it."

Speechless, Link could think of nothing to do except bow, forgetting that he was still inside the crate. His cheeks burning red, he climbed out and repeated the gesture at the bottom of the three stairs.

"No. Please." Running down into the grass, the girl took him by both hands and led him to the window. "There is no need for formality."

"I'm sorry." Link stammered, his breath growing short. "It's just that—well, you're the princess, aren't you? That's what people do to them in the stories." He flushed. "I mean…"

The girl smiled at him. "You are from the forest, aren't you?"

He swallowed. "I'm Link."

"Yes. Link." The girl curtseyed. "I am Zelda, Princess of Hyrule."

* * *

**And now we've come to one of my favorite moments in the story. I confess I've long had a soft spot for tales where the lead guy and the lead gal meet as children, forming a bond that reasserts itself later in life. Aside from the Zelda series, _Braveheart_ is probably one of my favorite examples of this (that scene where she hands him the thistle at his father's graveside gets me every time). K-Drama fanatics like myself will also know this pattern from _Time Between Dog and Wolf_ (which I highly recommend by the way). And eagle-eyed literature buffs will realize that the quote I took from _Lorna Doone_ at the beginning of this chapter is a reference to another such tale, which happens to be one of my favorite novels. There is an excellent A&E TV adaptation of _Lorna Doone_ out there starring Richard Coyle and Amelia Warner. Do yourself a favor and check it out!**

**That's it for now. Expect the next few chapters later this week or early next week!**


	10. Prophecies and Symbols

Chapter 9: Prophecies and Symbols

Relief and sorrow flooded through Link as he realized he had fulfilled one of the Great Deku Tree's last wishes: that he find the Princess of Destiny. In remembering the Tree's words, the thrill of exploration that had protected him from his grief over the Tree's death melted away.

The princess's smile faded as hot tears splashed down Link's face. Immediately, she took his hands again as if they had been friends for a long time.

"What is it?"

He shook his head. "Nothing." He tried to back away, but something about her held him in place.

"You've lost someone, haven't you?"

Freeing his hands, he wiped his face with his tunic and took several breaths before he could look at her again. He said nothing, but to her that said everything.

"I'm so sorry." She glanced down at the ground, brushing the front of her dress as if embarrassed.

Navi spoke for the two of them. "How did you know?"

Zelda clasped her hands at her waist. "I know what sadness looks like. I see it every time I look in a glass. You've lost someone who was close to you."

The understanding in her voice and expression reminded him of Saria. Link answered her in a whisper. "You lost someone, too?"

"The Queen, my mother, died almost a year ago." Zelda closed her eyes. "Nothing in the castle has been the same since then."

"That's terrible," said Navi. "How can you be so calm about it?"

The princess opened her eyes and smiled. "The face a person wears on the outside rarely reveals the depth of their feelings. I wear this face because I am the Princess of Hyrule. Those who would bow their knee to the Royal Family find it difficult to imagine that we have the very same feelings they do."

"I feel…" Link searched for the right words. "Like I've lost _two_ friends. The Great Deku Tree, our guardian, he was killed. And when I left the forest, I ran without saying goodbye to someone. She was my best friend."

"And you feel you've lost her because of that."

"Yes."

"I don't think you have. If she was a true friend, she will not be so easily lost as that."

For the first time since the evening before, Link laughed. "You're probably right."

Zelda lifted her hands, still folded, to her chin. "Link, there is something I need to ask you."

"What?"

She hesitated. "Do you have the Spiritual Stone of the Forest?"

He blinked in surprise, but it was Navi, once again, who asked how Zelda could have known about it.

"One reason is that my attendant saw it when she brought you here," Zelda said. "She spoke to you about it, I think. The other reason is…"

"What?" said Navi.

"I had a dream of dark storm clouds billowing over Hyrule."

The mention of dreams made Link feel queasy. "Did you see anything else?"

"At first, nothing. Then a ray of light shot out of the forest, parted the clouds, and lit up the ground." Lowering her arms to her sides, Zelda fixed her gaze on his. "The light turned into a figure holding a green and shining stone, followed by a fairy. I believed it was a prophecy that someone would come from the forest."

"So you sent someone to wait for us in the city in case we showed up!" said Navi.

Link nodded. "It makes sense."

"Yes," said Zelda. "Impa has been my attendant from birth. She is the only person I could have trusted with such a request."

Both of them looked away. A bird flew over the courtyard, and some of the butterflies landed on the stairway. Link saw a frog hop from the flowerbed to a patch of clover.

"I'm not really sure what I'm supposed to be doing," he said. "The Great Deku Tree told me to find you and guard the Stone of the Forest. I don't know much other than that."

"Perhaps," said the princess, "I may be able to help. How much do you know of the Sacred Realm?"

An emblem on her dress caught his eye: three triangles in one, sewn in gold thread. "It's where the Triforce is."

"Yes. Do you know it is said that the Triforce grants the wish of any mortal who finds it?"

"The Great Deku Tree only told me part of the story before he died."

"It is said that when someone with a righteous heart makes a wish, it will lead Hyrule to a golden age of prosperity."

"What's wrong with that?" said Navi.

"Nothing," said Zelda, "but it is also said that if someone with an evil mind has his wish granted, the world will be consumed by evil."

Unbidden, the desert man from Link's nightmares returned to mind. He coughed. "Can the evil be stopped once the person touches the Triforce?"

"I don't know. The best thing to do is to prevent them from entering the Sacred Realm in the first place."

Navi fluttered by Zelda's left shoulder. "How do we do that?"

"First, we need all three Spiritual Stones."

Link's eyes widened. _"Three_ Spiritual Stones?"

"What do you mean 'we'?" said Navi.

"Din, Nayru, and Farore, the three goddesses who created Hyrule," Zelda said. "Each of them entrusted a Spiritual Stone to one of the races of Hyrule. Each stone contains a teardrop from the goddess, and that is what causes it to shine so brightly. The first one, Farore's stone, you are already aware of. The second, Din's stone, belongs to the Gorons, and the third is guarded by the Zoras."

Link shook his head. "What do the stones have to do with the Sacred Realm?"

Zelda lowered her voice to a whisper. "Although few know it, the gate to the Sacred Realm is at the heart of Hyrule Castle Town, just outside the market square. That is where you will find the Temple of Time."

"I'm confused," said Navi.

"It's quite simple. To enter the Sacred Realm, a person has to bring the three Spiritual Stones to the temple."

"And that's it?" Link frowned.

"Not quite. There is an altar in the Temple of Time with three holes for the three Spiritual Stones. When the Stones are in place, only one more thing is needed to open the door that leads to the Sacred Realm."

"I know, I know," said Navi. "It's fairy's breath!"

Link grimaced. "That would probably _melt_ the door."

Zelda withdrew something from a pocket hidden at the side of her dress. It was almost identical to the Fairy Ocarina Saria had given him, except it was blue and slightly larger. Link also noticed a tiny Triforce chiseled onto the mouthpiece.

"This is the Ocarina of Time, the final key to the Sacred Realm. When the Spiritual Stones are placed in the altar, the person who wishes to pass beyond the Door of Time to the Sacred Realm must play a song on the instrument."

"Any song?" said Navi.

"Only one song is accepted by the three goddesses: the Song of Time."

"Song of Time, Door of Time, Temple of Time, Ocarina of Time." Link raised both eyebrows. "Why is Time so important?"

"It was the ancient Sages who built the Temple to protect the Triforce from evil," Zelda said. "They knew that Time was a force everything in this world is subject to. They saw it as a creator, a healer, a protector, and a judge of men and nature, much like the three goddesses."

"So…" Link sat down on the topmost of the three steps, his elbows propped on his knees. "We find the other two Spiritual Stones, we go to the Temple of Time, you play the song on the Ocarina of Time, and we get the Triforce before someone else does?"

"It will be a difficult task," Zelda said, joining him on the steps with a sigh, "and unfortunately, you will have the most difficult part of it. Another disadvantage to being the Princess of Hyrule is that I am rarely allowed to leave the castle. With my father conducting negotiations with the Gerudos, the consequences of my leaving to help you find the Spiritual Stones would be even worse. The Gerudos would be blamed for my absence, and peace would be more unlikely than ever."

Link scratched his ear. "The people in the city don't seem to like the Gerudos, and the Gerudos certainly don't like them." He shuddered at the memory of the girl and her dog that had almost been crushed under the hooves of Gerudo horses. "If they're so bad, why is your father trying so hard to be nice to them?"

The princess smiled sadly. "That would not have been the case a year ago. When my mother was alive, my father had little interest in relations with the Gerudos. It was my mother who would travel to their home in the desert, visit with their queens, and attempt to understand their culture."

"What happened?" said Navi, resting on the steps between the other two.

"When she died, my father's attitude changed. Since then, he has carried on her mission of peace between our two peoples, in spite of warnings from his advisors, his people…and from me."

"You?" Link lowered his arms and looked over at her. "You don't want peace?"

"Of course I do!" Zelda scowled. "But not at the cost of our safety. There are many, including myself, who do not believe the Gerudos can be trusted to keep their word, at least while Ganondorf is their king."

"Ganondorf?" The name sounded strange on Link's tongue.

Once more, Zelda took his hand and led him to the centermost of the courtyard's three windows. "This window looks in on the throne room. Through here, I have watched many of the negotiations between Ganondorf and my father. They are expected to reach an agreement soon." She hung her head, placing a hand on the windowsill. "I have told my father about my dream, but he refused to believe it was a prophecy. However, I believe the dark clouds that covered Hyrule in my dream symbolize that man." She pointed through the window.

Link followed her direction, but he already knew what he would see. The man from his dreams, the man with the broad shoulders and the red cape and the eyes full of death, sat across from the King of Hyrule.

"Ganondorf," he said.

Zelda nodded. "He swears allegiance to my father, but I am sure he is not sincere. Last night, someone came to my room hoping I would remain asleep. I believe it was Ganondorf, and I believe he was searching for the Ocarina of Time."

Link's face went white as he remembered other details from his dream besides the black horse and its rider. There had been another horse, hadn't there? A horse with _two_ riders, one an older woman who held the reins, the other a girl no older than himself clinging to her guardian's back. Since the night before the Great Deku Tree died, he had been so busy thinking about the man that he had never thought to identify the other riders. Now he knew.

Before he could open his mouth to tell her, Link sucked in a ragged breath as Ganondorf stood, bowed to the King, and swept out of the throne room, passing by less than twelve feet from the window. His head never turned completely, but Link saw the man's eyes flicker to the side as if he had noticed their spying on him.

"Don't worry," Zelda said. "He may be searching for the Triforce, but he cannot know what _we_ are planning…yet. It is better, in a way, that I will keep the Ocarina of Time here while you are gone. He would have to capture us both before he could enter the Sacred Realm."

Link touched the hilt of the sword at his back. "Then…we're the only ones who can save Hyrule."

"It would be dangerous to bring anyone else into our confidence. My father might have helped us, but as I said…" She bit her lip to fight off a sudden rush of tears.

_"I_ believe you, even if he doesn't," Link said, glancing at Navi. _"We _believe you."

Zelda smiled and turned away from the window. "Thank you."

Link rubbed a hand against his cheek. "You really think we have a chance?"

Returning the Ocarina of Time to her pocket, Zelda exchanged it for other objects that she slipped into Link's hands. "We have every chance."

"What is this?"

Two of the objects were scraps of parchment covered with a flowing script in dark ink. The other object was round and soft and protected by a thin cloth.

"Please take them," she said. "They will help you as you look for the Spiritual Stones."

Once again, Link bowed and felt the thrill of exploration, of finding places and meeting people he had only heard about from the Tree. "It was…great to finally meet you."

The princess curtsied. "My attendant will guide you out of the castle. Don't be afraid to talk to her."

Link glanced up at the wider courtyard. Standing next to the milk crate like a gargoyle, the woman from the square returned his gaze in silence. Hesitating, he stepped into the grass and shuffled towards her.

"Oh, and Link?"

He looked back at Zelda.

She bowed her head. "May the way of the Hero lead to the Triforce."


	11. Yours Sincerely

Chapter 10: Yours Sincerely

"Alright, alright! Settle down!"

Mido shook his fist at the children gathered outside his house, throwing a rock over their heads to keep the attention on himself. The noise ebbed slightly, giving him time to look out on the leaf-encrusted clearing and wonder how he might turn everything to his advantage.

"I know things have changed," he said, clapping both hands on his hips. "I know you all miss the Great Deku Tree. I do too, but we can't let that stop us from moving on. Someone has to lead the Kokiri!"

"Who?" said a boy in the crowd. "You?"

"That's right. Me."

The boos erupted like a geyser, forcing Mido to throw several more rocks before he could speak again. "Hey!" he said. "Just listen for a minute. If it wasn't for me, you wouldn't be standing here right now. Who do you think killed the monster in the Tree, anyway?"

A cold breeze sifted through the crowd, carrying the mellow scent of fungi from the deeper reaches of the forest.

"It was Link!" a girl shouted.

"No!" Mido threw his hands in the air. "I did it! Link ran away!"

Oddly, no one replied, and for a few brief seconds, Mido was sure he had them.

"How _dare_ you," said a voice. "How dare you disgrace Link's memory?"

Mido blanched. "Saria?"

"You only speak out against him because he's not here to defend himself. No one would believe you otherwise."

Pushing her way through to the front of the crowd, Saria stalked right up to Mido and slapped him twice on the cheek, hard.

Mido flinched, little surprised by the strength of her reaction. "She's right! Link's not here to defend himself, and that's the problem!" He sneered, no longer afraid of hurting Saria after the way she had treated him the night before the Tree died. "Where is he? Why did he leave?"

"He's different. He always has been."

Mido crowed with laughter, provoking most of the others to join him. "See? Even Saria admits it. He's not one of us…and he never was!"

"That's not true! Link _is_ one of us, no matter how different he is. The Great Deku Tree treated him like a son; why can't you treat him like a brother?"

Mido's lips peeled back in disgust. "Why do you care so much about him? Why care what the rest of us think?"

Saria's green hair, now drenched with sweat, fell to her shoulders with the death of the breeze. She did not speak.

"I know why," said Mido. "It was obvious the night I came to your house."

Saria looked up, her back to everyone else as she faced Mido with a fury that slowly faded into sadness.

"You may be right about my feelings," she said, "but you'll never be right about him."

* * *

Hyrule Field. Midday. Everything soaked in a hot sun with no vines, no branches, and no leaves covering his head, yet Link gawked at the mountain just north and east of the city as if he didn't notice.

"Incredible."

Zelda's attendant, Impa, stood beside him on the drawbridge, a leather pack sitting at her feet. "There are those who would sooner destroy such majesty than share it with others."

He nodded. "How will I climb it?"

"Kakariko, the village of my people, lies at the foot of the mountain. There is a path leading west from the village, all the way up the mountain to Goron City. It is guarded by a single Knight."

"Is there anything else I should know?"

"You carry an ocarina with you." It was a statement, not a question.

"Yes."

"I would teach you a song I have played for Princess Zelda since her infanthood."

Without waiting for a response, Impa pressed two fingers to her lips and blew gently, whistling a melody that carried a haunting sweetness into his heart and made him think of Saria, the Great Deku Tree, his home in the forest, and of course Princess Zelda herself. Before long, he found that he had reached for Saria's Fairy Ocarina and brought it to his mouth. He did his best to imitate the sounds flowing from Impa's lips, though his experience with the instrument hardly equaled Saria's.

When it was over, Impa refolded her arms. "When the people of Hyrule gathered to honor the heir's birth, the King suggested that Zelda's Lullaby be used as a signal between him and his allies. Its notes carry mysterious power, and only friends of the Royal Family are allowed to learn it."

Link tried to make out signs of habitation beneath the mountain. A curl of smoke rising in the distance might have come from a manmade fire, or it could have been fog, since a cliff obscured any sight of the village.

Impa lifted the pack at her feet, loaded with provisions from the castle cellar, and handed it to Link. "Should you run out, you will want to find food in the village."

"Couldn't I ask the Gorons for food?"

A twitch at the corners of her mouth betrayed Impa's thoughts. "I do not think their palate would be to your liking. Mention my name, and you will lack for no necessity from the citizens of Kakariko."

She took a step back so that Link could only see her from the corner of his right eye. He thought he saw her picking something out of a pouch at her waist.

"The princess will be waiting for you to return with the Spiritual Stones. We are both counting on you."

"I—"

Link's reply was cut off by a crack and an explosion of light that dulled his senses. Shaking his head to clear it, he stumbled around until his eyes fell on the smoking husk of a Deku Nut half buried in the grass.

"She's gone," said Navi.

* * *

Their hike to the village was uneventful. Link stopped once to eat and consider how he might avoid attracting too much notice with the villagers. More than anything else, he wanted to read the letters Zelda had given him, but the day wore on, and he needed to reach the village by evening.

Several times, Navi attempted to start a conversation, but after all that had happened in the past few days, her companion was in no mood to chat.

Halfway to the cliff that concealed Kakariko, they crossed another bridge. Once more, the desire to go back to a simpler life in the forest, with the Great Deku Tree still alive, began to weigh over Link's urge to see more and do more in the world.

Flopping down in the grass on the other side of the bridge, he threw a hand to his face and cried. He cried for the Deku Tree first of all, but his thoughts also drifted to Saria and the other Kokiri—yes, he thought, even Mido—for whom there was little protection without their guardian.

"I can't do it," he said. "That man, Ganondorf, killed the Great Deku Tree. What's to stop him from killing me?"

"Not much," said Navi.

"That's supposed to help?" He frowned.

"Maybe you're thinking about it the wrong way."

"What do you mean?"

She landed on his lap. "You feel the wind, right?"

"What's that have to do with anything?"

"You feel the wind, but you can't control how strong it is or where it's going."

"So?"

"So you let it carry you."

The frown deepened. "You're saying I should just sit back and let Ganondorf do what he wants?"

"You're not listening! I'm saying no one's going to blame you for things you can't control, like the Great Deku Tree dying. Some things just happen. A lot of times, we don't get to know why."

He looked at her. "Since when did you become so thoughtful?"

"You weren't the only one who learned from the Great Deku Tree, you know."

He sighed and unfolded one of Zelda's letters while munching on a piece of Skulltula pie Saria had saved from the party. The letter was short, addressed to Sir Cahus of Kakariko Village, and contained a brief introduction of Link and a request that he be allowed to travel to Goron City on a matter of royal business. It was signed by the princess.

The first letter he skimmed over, but the other caught his attention at once, and he read:

_Dear Link,_

_You will realize, of course, that I am writing this before we have even met face-to-face. By the time you read it, you will be on your way to finding the other two Spiritual Stones. Impa has told me you are safely hidden in the cellar of the castle and that she will have the servants bring you to us tomorrow._

_Did I tell you about the dream I had that a light would come from the forest? I want you to know that I have faith in you, not just because of that dream, but because of your courage. You risked your life for someone who will never be able to repay you. Yes, Impa has told me of the girl in the square, too._

_It may seem strange to you that I write like this, knowing so little of you. But it is not the first time I have dreamed. Every dream that Din or her sisters have sent me has come true, and I believe this one will, too._

_Never become discouraged. If you do, know that you are the only person who has a chance against Ganondorf and his scheme for Hyrule. The Gerudos will never rest until they infiltrate every level of our society. You are brave—and strong, too—but you must learn to rely on the strength and encouragement of others as much as you do your own strength._

_We may not know what will happen, but remember: there is something great working inside you that has led you this far, and if you let it carry you, it will take you to places you have never imagined and give you power beyond your highest expectations._

_Please protect the Spiritual Stones. I know you will succeed. Until we see each other again, may the Way of the Hero lead to the Triforce._

_Yours Sincerely,_

_Zelda Sayre Nohansen Hyrule_

_P.S. Please accept the fruit I have given you. It was grown by my mother before she died. I will eat half of it when you have left. The other half I leave with you. I believe that Din has destined the two of us to this task, and since you have come this far, you must believe it, too._

Link said nothing to Navi when he had finished reading it, but she could tell the letter had affected him, because he was shaking. He picked up the fruit and stared at it. He took a bite and shivered. He put the rest of it back in the cloth and returned it to the pouch containing his few provisions.

"Feel better now?"

He nodded.

* * *

**I know Chapters 9 and 10 are a little on the short side, but I promise the chapters covering Death Mountain and Dodongo's Cavern will make up for it! Thank you so much for the reviews and comments. Please continue to enjoy!**

**Two random thoughts I wanted to share regarding everyone's favorite Princess. I realize the phrase, "May the way of the Hero lead to the Triforce" never appears in OOT, but I really liked it as a catchphrase, and since the storylines of OOT and ALTTP are so closely connected in most fans' minds, it didn't seem like much of a stretch to drop the phrase into the dialogue a time or two (it won't be the last time you'll see a character using it).**

**Also, in case you're wondering why I gave Zelda so many names, the explanation is simple and based on canonical facts. "Nohansen Hyrule," as veterans of TWW know, is the family name of the last King of Hyrule. The relationship between that king and the Princess Zelda of the OOT era isn't entirely clear, but I felt it was reasonable to assume the two characters are related in some way. Hence the shared names.**

**"Sayre" is simply the maiden name of F. Scott Fitzgerald's wife, after whom Miyamoto-sama chose to name Hyrule's Princess when Nintendo was working on the first Zelda game for the NES (see the quote in front of my prologue, which came from one of Miyamoto-sama's interviews on Amazon).**

**More to come!**


	12. Death Mountain

Chapter 11: Death Mountain

_I do like a tasty stone soup.  
__Of course, stone soup with cabbage—  
__That's hard to beat._

~"The Story of Stone Soup"

* * *

The afternoon drifted by in a haze of renewed vigor brought on by Zelda's letter. Link's anxiety left him almost instantly, and before he knew it, he had covered most of the distance to Kakariko Village. Navi respected his silence this time, knowing he needed it more than anything else.

"_I want you to know that I have faith in you."_ No one except Saria and the Great Deku Tree had said anything like that before. That the princess had written it on instinct, with only a dream and Impa's observations in the square to convince her, touched him more than he cared to admit just then.

A stairway had been cut into the side of the cliff ahead of them, the same cliff that had blocked their view of the village earlier. Even now, they saw no other sign of human habitation, since the stairway veered sharply to the right, around a corner, preventing them from seeing the top of it.

Link tiptoed up the first few stairs, then scolded himself. He would be far less likely to draw unwanted attention if he relaxed. Anyone who lived in Kakariko would be able to tell he was a stranger, but that need not lead to suspicion. What could they suspect him of?

In the distance, he heard a low creaking noise, hammers pounding, chickens clucking, and children laughing. He felt himself warming to the village even before he saw it.

When he finally mounted the last step, he couldn't help but smile at the sight of it all. Kakariko Village nestled in a valley in the shadow of the mountain. Houses huddled close for protection, but not too close for privacy. Other stairways, perfect for young boys or girls to race on, led to different levels of the village; most of the houses stood on small plateaus raised from the valley floor.

It would have been a perfect place to play hide-and-seek, something he had often done with Saria in the forest.

A scream ripped his attention from more peaceful thoughts and raised his eyes to the western quarter of the village, where Impa had told him to look for the road to Goron City. A woman stood at the top of a stairway flailing her arms, her face pale and her hair bedraggled. Other villagers peeked out of windows and open doorways in the direction of the scream, but few moved to investigate at first.

_"Now_ how are we going to get through without being noticed?" Navi held onto the straps of the pack on Link's back containing Impa's provisions.

"Maybe we should see what's going on," Link said.

"What could happen in a place like this?"

"I don't know." Link swallowed to keep the sick feeling in his stomach from growing.

It wasn't difficult to avoid notice on his way to the scene of the disturbance. Link joined a growing crowd of children, adults, and stray animals streaming to the western quarter and clogging the stairways.

Murmurs passed from one person to another. Those nearest the woman who had screamed had stopped and were staring at something on the ground.

Ignoring the chance he might draw attention, Link crawled through the forest of legs on the stairway in the western quarter and broke free from the crowd.

A man lay on his stomach with his arms splayed out in front of him. In one hand, he had been holding a spear, but the only part of it left was the shaft. The point had been torn away and driven through the chain mail protecting his back. His helmet had been thrown aside, too far to have simply rolled there on its own.

_Sir Cahus. _Link unconsciously fingered the letter from Zelda, the one she had intended him to present to the Knight guarding the road to Goron City. There would be no need for that letter now.

"Stay back!"

A redheaded girl stooped over the Knight's body, attempting to address the wound in his back. She seemed vaguely familiar, and when she turned to face the crowd, Link recognized her as the young woman in the square of Hyrule Castle Town who had been selling milk and other farm goods to the crowd. Though hardly older than him, she worked as if she had been around wounds before.

"Can I help?" Link knelt at her side.

She glanced at him, first with irritation, then with surprise. "You again. Link, isn't it? What are you doing here?"

"I was…" He hesitated before deciding that the girl probably didn't care one way or the other. "I was looking for the road to Goron City."

"Well, you found it." She nudged him aside. "And to answer your question, if you want to help, you can find my dad."

"Malon!" A man in dirty blue overalls pushed through the gawkers. Seeing Link, he paused. "Say, young fellow. You look—"

"Dad!"

"Sorry, hon." The man turned his attention to the Knight.

"Hey," Navi whispered. "Isn't he—?"

Link nodded. He had recognized the man, too; Impa had named him Talon, the owner of Lon Lon Ranch, the previous evening at the castle.

"What do we do now?" Navi had crept onto his shoulder, in plain view, but Link didn't scold her, since everyone's focus was on the Knight.

"He's gone," Talon said. "You've done everything you can."

Malon pounded bloody fists against her knees, staining her dress. "No!"

Link's mind wandered from the question of the man's condition to the circumstances of his murder. At the same time, he allowed his eyes to wander along the ground surrounding the body until they fell on a scrap of cloth lying in the grass.

A scrap of _red_ cloth.

He felt a chill wrack his spine. The cloth could have come from any number of objects, it was so small, but the first one Link thought of was a cape. _Ganondorf._

If his guess at the murderer's identity was correct, had the cloth—and the body, for that matter—been left as a warning? Zelda had been certain the Gerudo king remained unaware of their plans to precede him to the Sacred Realm, but _someone_ had killed Cahus. That it had happened here, where the path leading to Goron City and the second Spiritual Stone began, could scarcely be called a coincidence.

"We should go," said Navi.

Link winced. The weight of the pack on his shoulders had been burdensome, but now it seemed heavier than ever.

The crowd, seeing there was little to see and less to be done, slowly began to disperse. Many lingered, some wept. Others simply shook their heads. Few offered to help with the body.

No one noticed the boy in green and his fairy slipping away except Malon, and by the time she realized they had gone, it was too late to stop them. While her father and some of the men from the village carried the body of Cahus, Knight of Hyrule, to a nobler resting place, her eyes meandered along the road to Goron City, the road that wound its way up Death Mountain.

* * *

The contrast between the mountain and Hyrule Field could not have been greater. Mostly, the vegetation here consisted of a few prickly shrubs embedded in cracks along a rough path of stone. Red pumice crunched under Link's boots as his knees pumped with the strain of the uphill climb.

A handful of pebbles cascaded from somewhere above, matting his hair with dust and rock. Up ahead, the path made a sharp turn, curving around the mountain like the coils of a dragon. Unfortunately, since Link was on the east side of the mountain, twilight had already begun to darken his path, as the peak stood between him and the setting sun.

"Listen," Navi said. "Maybe we should stop here for the night."

"You're the one who said we should leave the village," said Link. "How long have we been walking?"

"Long enough to get away from anyone who might be curious about you."

Link mumbled a half-hearted protest, but after examining the steepness of the cliffs and the sharpness of the rocks, he dropped his leather pack against the nearest crag and sat down to rest.

He had just finished munching on a strip of dried beef and begun to doze off when an inhuman screech echoed from the cliffs, breaking his slumber. He had just enough time to open his eyes before a scaled body battered him to the ground. Four hard suction cups pinched his stomach, tearing scraps of his tunic and leaving welts on his flesh when the spider leapt away to join three of its companions that had landed on nearby boulders.

Link grimaced, ignoring the dirt clinging to his welts. Backing up, he stood and faced the spiders as they hopped just beyond his reach, surrounding him. Their blue scales glittered in the light of a full moon.

There was little time for strategy. One by one, they flew at him, and Link simply reacted by instinct, dipping beneath the spiders where he could and jabbing at their undersides as they passed over. He caught one in the leg after several tries, staining his sword with black blood. But the others were quick to press in, giving him little time to take advantage of the injury.

"Look out!"

Navi's warning sent him into a roll. The spider missed his head by inches, but a suction cup on one leg whisked away his hat, along with several strands of his hair. Crying out, Link charged the nearest spider and lunged with his sword tip forward. When the target jumped, he jumped with it, ripping its guts out with one clean sweep.

The other spiders pounced on Link. One slapped his leg with a suction cup and took away a round patch of skin. Another went for his knee, but Link's Deku Shield deflected it into the cliff wall. The third, when it came in at his back, met only the point of the sword, which poked in through its stomach and out through its back, its legs splaying to either side of Link's body as it pushed him down.

More unearthly cries bounced along the ravine. Link, sure that other spiders had joined the mêlée, kicked the dead spider off his blade with both feet and leapt to a standing position.

"That was close!" said Navi.

Link nodded, finding what was left of the last two spiders beneath a boulder. On impulse, he dropped his weapons and threw his weight into the boulder.

Suddenly, a mist exploded across the path, hitting him in the face. Too stunned to move, he locked his gaze on the boulder as it sprouted legs and arms, pushing itself up to full height. The creature's head tapered to a slight point, and the earth tones of its body blended perfectly with the terrain, especially at its back, a shell that looked like a miniature mountain range with very sharp peaks.

"Bless you," said Navi.

The boulder creature fixed two beady eyes on Link and Navi. Its expression was unreadable.

"Hello," said Link.

The creature remained silent at first, but then it picked up a severed spider leg, plucked Link's hat from the ground, and offered him both with the same blank expression.

Link took the hat and placed it back on his head, ignoring the spider leg. "Thank you."

The creature's eyes grew hard, an obvious sign of anger. "You are not hungry?"

Link made a face. "Not for that."

The beady eyes relaxed. "Truly? Then I will eat it." Dangling the spider leg over its mouth, the creature dropped it in and began to chew.

Turning aside to avoid showing his nausea, Link reached for his shield and strapped it onto his back, then picked up his sword and lowered his head as he marched past the snacking creature.

"Wait," it said. "Where are you going?"

"To Goron City."

"How will you reach it without food?"

Link frowned. "I have food. It's…" His voice trailed off, and he realized he had lost track of his leather pack in the battle.

Scraps of leather littered the trail. Behind him, beside him, in every direction in a ten-foot radius, lay apples shredded by suction cups, squashed bread and cheese, and beef marinated in spider guts. Zelda's letters were among the few items left intact. Link moved to retrieve them immediately.

"I will lead you to the city," said the creature, "if you will share this with me." Snapping another spider leg in half, it gave one part to Link and chomped the other between its teeth.

Link stared, ready to vomit. His heart beat faster as he raised it to his lips with shaking hands. He opened his mouth. His teeth came down, stopping right before they touched the leg. His gaze had met the creature's again. This time, the beady orbs were brimming with laughter.

"Oh, stop it!" the creature exclaimed, slapping a palm on its knee.

The leg slipped from Link's fingers. "You were joking?"

The creature clutched at its stomach with both hands, rolling onto its shell and kicking its feet in the air as it chuckled.

Link shot a longing glance at his sword before planting his attention back on the creature. "Do all Gorons have your sense of humor?"

"How did you know I was a Goron?" the creature said, sitting up.

Link eyed the dead spiders. "I've heard of your people's appetite for…strange foods."

"This?" The Goron held up one of the carcasses. "We never eat Tektites unless we have to."

"What do you normally eat?"

"Rocks."

Link pointed to the mountain's peak. "This mountain must have billions of rocks. How could you possibly be _forced _to eat a Tektite?"

"That one is a long story."

"I'd like to know."

The Goron sighed. "Come, then. I will lead you to the city, and we will talk."


	13. Goron City

Chapter 12: Goron City

Thankfully, the rest of the climb up Death Mountain—a name that hardly bolstered Link's confidence—brought no Tektites and no falling rocks. Sheer drop-offs and shadowy ravines made him glad they were taking the journey at night, since that made it more difficult to see just how far he would have to fall if he lost his balance.

"How much farther?" said Navi, saving Link the breath required to ask the question as the path narrowed to a half-yard's width.

"Not far," said the Goron, moving quickly as if he didn't notice the heights. "Are you sure you won't try a rock?"

"Yes," Link said.

"Not even a pebble or two?" The Goron shook its head and flashed a fat-lipped smile. "And I thought my children were picky eaters."

"I'd like to hear the rest of your story."

"Yes." The Goron snatched a glossy rock from a ledge and devoured it. "Ah. Nothing like fresh granite…anyway, back to the story. Our people depend on the mountain for food. Yes, there are many types of rocks, but as with all food, not all rocks have the same taste or the same nutritional value. Granite is common, and though I prefer its taste to many other rocks, it is not as nutritious as schist or obsidian or even a geode covered in lava. Our people consider that a delicacy. But now, thanks to the man from the desert, the best rocks are too dangerous to get at."

These last words and the memory of the dead Knight lying by the gate robbed Link of any temptation to laugh at the Goron's discourse on rocks. "What did he do?"

Rather than answer immediately, the Goron trudged on in silence. Link breathed a sigh of relief as the precipice broadened out at last, leading them into a shelter carved from the mountainside. Though he couldn't read the odd script, a banner strung overhead told them they had reached Goron City.

Ignoring the banner, his guide turned left and stopped at the edge of a natural balcony overlooking the scene of their encounter with the Tektites. Pointing a finger over the edge, the creature spoke.

"You see that boulder down there?"

Link squinted, trying to discern among the shadows. "That big one?"

"Yes. It shouldn't be there. That man from the desert…he put it there! Behind that boulder is Dodongo's Cavern, where the very best rocks are formed. We can survive for a time on the lesser rocks, but the cavern is our central source of food. Unless the boulder is removed, we will perish."

"How long has the cavern been blocked?"

"Many weeks, since Ganondorf's first visit. And he has returned more than once to threaten greater evils. The older sacrifice for the younger, but still the children starve."

Navi fluttered into the Goron's line of vision. "Can't you just get the strongest Gorons together and lift the boulder?"

The Goron held up a meaty finger. "Even if the boulder is removed, we still could not get to the rocks."

Before Link could ask why, the Goron's words were interrupted by a pair of Goron children that burst from the city's cavernous entrance shouting and throwing stones at each other.

"Hey!" The older Goron ran from Link's side, waving its arms at the children and catching several of the rocks before they hit their targets. "Stonethrower! Mountainfoot! How many times have I told you not to play with your food?"

The children hung their heads but said nothing.

Link scratched his ear. _Stonethrower? Mountainfoot?_

"Go back inside and finish your supper."

"Yes, father." The children retrieved their rocks and slunk back into the city.

"I am sorry," said the older Goron. "Our children are not aware of how serious things really are. We hope to keep it that way." The Goron gestured to the city's entrance. "Come, if you are not afraid to see how things are for yourself. But first, I am Barough, King Darunia's messenger…and also his brother."

"I'm Link. This is Navi."

Black eyes peered at them in curiosity. "What is your story, Link? Why have you come to Goron City?"

"To fight Ganondorf." Link felt the hair on his arms rising as he said it.

"You will not find him in the city."

"I'm looking for something I need to fight him. It's here, somewhere." Link paused, nervous about telling the truth. "The Spiritual Stone."

Barough's expression never changed, but the tone of his voice became more suspicious. "That is what Ganondorf asked for."

Link's eyes widened. "You didn't give it to him!"

The Goron's teeth flashed. "Of course not. That is why he created the boulder to block Dodongo's Cavern!"

Link chose his next words carefully. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to upset you, but it's very important I talk to your King. I have a message from Princess Zelda of Hyrule."

"The King will see no one."

Frustration colored Link's cheeks. "You don't understand. She sent me here to find it. It's the only way to…" _Save Hyrule,_ he thought without finishing it aloud. He didn't have time to argue, and he wasn't sure the Goron would believe him anyway.

"You may walk within our city as you please," said Barough. "But do not go near the King's chamber."

Without a further word, Barough stormed through the entrance, leaving Link to stare after him, bewildered at the sudden turn of events and unable to see how he'd ever leave the mountain with the second Spiritual Stone.

* * *

When Link finally got up the nerve to enter Goron City, the heat immediately oozed through his pores and enclosed him as if his entire body had become one with the humidity. The stench of molten rock, sulfur, and sickness attacked him from every direction. He saw little at first, but the faint glow of magma from adjoining caverns coupled with torches all throughout the city gradually allowed him to see most of it.

"It's not the forest," said Navi.

Link wiped his forehead. "How can anything live here?"

His eyes roved about, noting that he stood on the city's highest level, a massive ring of stone cut from the mountain's innards. Rings of equal size continued for several more levels going down, but it was hard to see them in detail for the smoke curling around his ankles and eyes and all through the air.

Gorons sat or waddled casually along the edge of the pit; a few rolled, curling into balls as they raced endless circuits around the rings. Some spared Link their glance, but most didn't seem to care. Probably because they were starving, he thought.

"All this for the Spiritual Stone." He shook his head. "I'm surprised they let us come in here at all."

"You can't make things any worse," said Navi.

"Maybe." The sight of two smaller Gorons tussling near the pit at the center of the great cavern drew Link's attention. He approached, curious.

"I did too see it!" one of the children said, shoving the other towards the edge.

"Did not," said the other.

"Did too. Don't you remember Uncle Darunia telling us about it?"

"Yeah, but why would the Royal Family send someone _our_ age? Wouldn't they send a Knight or someone else important?"

Link placed himself between the two combatants. To him, it was hard to tell one Goron from another, but from their talk, he was certain these two were Stonethrower and Mountainfoot, Barough's sons.

The children froze, staring at the ocarina poking out of the pouch at Link's waist.

"The Ocarina of Time!" Both children grabbed at it. "Please let us see it. Our father would never believe that we held the famous Ocarina!"

"Stop." Link snatched the instrument out of their reach. "This isn't the Ocarina of Time." He paused, letting that sink in. "Besides, how do you know about the Ocarina?"

The Gorons' eagerness deflated only slightly, but they did stop trying to take the instrument. One of them, with plumper cheeks than the other—Link thought this was Stonethrower—answered. "Uncle Darunia used to tell us stories about other places in Hyrule. The King and Queen, the Princess Zelda, the Knights of Hyrule…"

Link smiled. "What if I said I wanted to hear his stories too?"

The Gorons quieted at once.

"Uncle Darunia hasn't come out of his room for a long time," said Mountainfoot. "The only person he says he'll speak to is the Royal Family's messenger."

"Don't forget Zelda's Lullaby," Navi whispered to Link. "Impa said it was a signal from the Royal Family to its friends. If they know about the Ocarina of Time, maybe they know about it, too."

Link nodded. Mashing the Fairy Ocarina to his lips, he played the song that Impa had taught him before she left him, barely hitting the notes in his hurry.

The Gorons leapt and clapped their hands. "That's it, that's it. The song, the song!"

"Thanks, Navi." Link grinned, set the ocarina back in its pouch, and turned to the Gorons. "You're right. I _was_ sent by the Royal Family. I need to speak with your King right away. Can you take me?"

"We can," said Stonethrower, "but we might get in trouble."

"I promise you won't." _If the King listens to me, that is, _Link added to himself.

Mountainfoot nodded. "Follow us."

* * *

Link followed the children through the smoke, running up and down stairways that led to other levels of the city. The heat swirled in clouds that threatened to paste his tunic to his body, and the stench of molten rock grew stronger, near to making him sick. Putrid water ran from the walls and pooled on the floor, glistening in the torchlight and forcing him to a slower pace after he tripped three times on the slick wet stones.

At last, what seemed like hours later, the children stopped, their faces buried in wisps of sulfur condensing around the doorway in front of them.

"This is King Darunia's throne room," said Mountainfoot. "He'll let you in if you play that song again."

"Thanks." Link choked on the fumes in his nostrils. _I hope I've got the breath left to play it._

Stonethrower nudged his brother's stomach. "Humans. They never appreciate the smell, do they?"

Link clutched his stomach and retched beside the doorway. When the children had left and his strength had returned, he stood and faced the door again, gripping the ocarina.

"Go on," said Navi.

He closed his mouth around the instrument and summoned what breath he could. The tune was barely recognizable at first, but as he kept at it, the notes swelled and came together like the water beneath his feet. For good measure, he played it three times through.

Then the door crashed open.

Link's jaw slipped off the ocarina. The Goron standing in the doorway dwarfed him many times over; its stomach alone could have held three or four Kokiri bunched together. Its arms were thicker than his waist and sported fists that could have smashed his face like a hollow pumpkin.

_"What is this?"_

The voice, too, was the deepest Link had ever heard.

"Hi," said Navi. "This is Link, I'm Navi, and we're looking for—"

Link wanted to kill her as the King lunged forward and grabbed him by the neck, lifting him up to the ceiling of the throne room.

"Who do you think you are?" The King speared Link with his dark eyes. "Only my Sworn Brother, the King of Hyrule, or his messengers are welcome here."

Link squeezed his reply through a tortured windpipe. "Stone…the forest…letter from the princess…we're trying to help!"

The King dropped his victim with a growl. "If you're really a messenger from the Royal Family, the King insults me by sending a kid!" His brows knitted with fury. "Has Darunia of the Gorons dropped so low in His Majesty's sight?"

"I'm sorry," said Link, rubbing his bruised neck. "I just…if you'll just," he huffed, "if you'll let me play the song for you…"

"I already heard the song. Why do you think I came out here in the first place?" The King shook a fist at Link. "Now I'm _really_ angry! Get out of my face, now!"

Link almost swallowed his tongue as he presented the Goron King with Zelda's letter to Cahus. "The King doesn't really know about this. It was Princess Zelda's idea."

_"What?"_

The Goron King tore the letter from Link's grasp; and when he saw the royal seal paired with Zelda's signature, he yelled and shot a fist straight out, missing Link's head by inches and blowing a boulder-sized chunk of the wall through into the next tunnel.

"We don't need any help from strangers. This is a Goron problem!" The King glared. "And they ask me why I'm in such a bad mood…"

"Yeah," said Navi. "Why _are_ you in such a bad mood?"

"Because ancient monsters have invaded Dodongo's Cavern. We've had a poor harvest of our special crop, the Bomb Flower!" The King gestured at the city behind them. "Starvation and poverty! Disease! Death! Why else would I be so angry?"

Navi pressed forward. "Why can't you kill the monsters yourself?"

"I could," the King said, "but if I failed, my people would be left with nothing. My brother is strong, but he could never lead the people as I do."

Link held up a hand. "I could do it."

That stopped the King cold. "You? Kill the monsters in the cavern?" His anger melted away, and he grasped his stomach with both hands as he roared his laughter. "That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard. You probably couldn't even dance a jig, let alone save the world!"

Link racked his brain for a way to take advantage of the King's sudden humor. At the mention of a jig, he thought of the song Saria had shared with him on the bridge just before he left Kokiri Forest.

_Why not?_ Embracing his Fairy Ocarina once more, he repeated Saria's song for dear life, throwing in a kick every so often to liven it up the more. Navi twirled in circles around his head, shouting "hey" and "listen" in rhythm with the bouncy tune.

The Goron King stood still, eyes bulging, face twitching to suppress his reaction, but to no avail. The humor buried beneath his stark personality exploded; throwing a fist out to each side, he hopped on one giant foot and then twirled, slamming his fist through the throne room door as he danced in a mad circle.

"Oh, oh, oh!" said the king. "Come on, come on, come on!"

Link, frightened to the core, struggled to continue playing as he watched the King's erratic movements. The Goron flapped his arms as if in flight, then he rotated both fists as if stirring an oar through the water. His lips peeled back in a mad grin, and then he kicked a foot against the wall, upsetting a torch. He maintained his hysteria for a good five minutes, winding down only when his breath grew short and his laughter overcame his urge to dance.

Link lowered his ocarina, trading glances with Navi.

"What a tune. I needed that!" The King beat his chest. "I am Darunia, big boss of the Gorons! Was there something you wanted to ask me about?"

When Link had carefully repeated his purpose, Darunia shook his head. "Despite my earlier doubts, I can see the truth in your eyes—but don't get your hopes up. You'll not get the Spiritual Stone that easily."

"What do you want me to do?" said Link.

"If you want it that badly, you must first prove your manhood by destroying the monsters in Dodongo's Cavern."

Link clenched his teeth. "You're coming with me, aren't you?"

"Of course not! If you intend to fight Ganondorf, you'll have to gain your mettle…and you won't do it by relying on me to coddle you!"

Link sighed, wary of spending more time in the mountain's odorous caverns. But there was nothing for it. "I'll do it."

"Good!" Darunia snapped up a pair of bracelets from his throne's great arm and dropped them into Link's palm with a frown. "I'm not really giving you these in return for anything, but take them anyway. They were meant for one of my nephews, but if you wear them, even a little fellow like you can pick up a Bomb Flower."

Link slipped one bracelet onto each wrist. "How will I destroy the boulder at the entrance?"

"Are you deaf? I just told you. We have Bomb Flowers planted all over the cliff above Dodongo's Cavern. Use them to destroy the boulder."

"What's a Bomb Flower, anyway?"

Darunia growled. "I'll pretend I didn't hear that."

Link spun to escape the throne room before the King's mood could change again. "Thanks. I'll be back soon."

Darunia chuckled, flipping one last note of encouragement Link's way before he departed.

"Kid, if you come back without killing every last monster in Dodongo's Cavern, I'll stick your _head_ in a Bomb Flower!"


	14. Dodongo's Cavern

Chapter 13: Dodongo's Cavern

"Just pick it up," said Navi. "It's not going to hurt you."

Link inched toward the cliff, eyeing the patch of brown grass that marked the Bomb Flower's stem. How was something so small supposed to remove an entire boulder from the mountainside?

"Here goes nothing." Bending over, he thrust his hands into the soil and yanked on the stem, ripping it out with ease thanks to the bracelets King Darunia had given him. Instead of the scraggly bulb he expected, the part of the plant beneath the soil was much larger than the grass marking its location. It was round and heavy. It also hissed like a geyser.

"It sure makes a lot of noise," said Navi.

A flame licked up through the roots and engulfed the grass clinging to the top. Link dropped the Bomb Flower, startled, and tried to pick it back up, but the plant had already rolled over the edge of the cliff.

_Wait a minute._ His eyes widened. "Get down!"

A split second later, the hissing stopped, and the night lit up with an explosion that shook the cliffs. Shards of rock spiraled away from the blast, bleeding trails of smoke that reached the sky over Kakariko Village. Heat and debris washed over Link as he huddled near the entrance to Goron City.

"I think it worked," said Navi.

* * *

Link had no intention of bumbling his way to Dodongo's Cavern in the middle of the night, so he slept as far away from the edge of the cliff outside Goron City as possible to wait the dawn.

After a restless slumber, he ate the rest of the fruit Zelda had given him—the one food item he had managed to save from Impa's leather pack—and hiked back to the cavern, trying not to look down. He spotted the wreckage of the boulder easily enough; just past that, the mouth of the cavern beckoned. He took a deep breath and plunged in.

Steam belched from countless vents in the rock, blinding him. Everything in the cavern seemed to glow an angry red. When he finally could see, it took everything he had not to turn and flee back to Kakariko Village.

Ahead, the narrow tunnel he had entered opened up to a chamber that stretched back hundreds of meters. Steam shrouded everything, including the man-sized cracks that loomed every few feet and the lava that seeped through the floor like blood through clenched fingers. From a handful of stalactites poking through the mist, he got a rough idea of how high the ceiling was.

Rocks of all shapes and sizes were scattered everywhere, some smaller than Navi, others nearly as large as King Darunia himself.

Link wiped the sweat from his eyes. "I don't see any monsters."

A loud thump drew their attention to a nearby boulder.

Link whirled, ready to strike anything that moved, but the beady-eyed lizard perched on the boulder caused him to hesitate. "That doesn't look dangerous."

"Just don't touch it, whatever you do," said Navi.

Ignoring her, Link put out a hand to touch the rough green skin. When he did, the skin turned red—and the lizard exploded.

Scraps of flesh flew everywhere. Thrown back by the force, Link slammed into the wall, collapsing against a steam vent. The smell of sulfur drove him back to his feet swiftly in spite of the pain, and he stumbled away towards the far end of the cavern, sneezing twice to remove the foul air from his lungs.

Navi flew up close, flicking a bloody scale from his shoulder. "Are you alright?"

"I'm still alive."

"Link?"

"What?"

"Next time, listen to the fairy."

With a half-hearted smirk, he brought out his Deku Shield. "If all of them do that, I think we're in trouble."

"We'll be fine as long as you don't try to pet one again."

"Go dip your wings in the lava."

Before Navi could respond, a flock of bats erupted from a crack to Link's right and swarmed over his head. Both of them stared until their reflexes kicked in; then Link took up his sword and ran for cover, swiping at any bat that got too close.

A second flock of bats awoke from behind a boulder on his left. Rather than attacking, these bats flew away towards the center of the cavern. He decided to follow them, hoping their passage would disturb any monsters lurking in the mist that might otherwise attack _him_.

"Not so fast," said Navi. "We don't know what's out there!"

Link slowed just in time to witness a pillar of fire swallowing the bats directly in front of him. The fire had come from a nearby ditch, but he had no time to wonder if it had originated in the earth or from one of the monsters. Diving behind a boulder, he waited for the fire to die out, then he scurried to the edge of the ditch for a look.

The monster slouched in a bed of rocks at the bottom of the ditch. Like its smaller cousin, it had the appearance of a lizard, but razor teeth and a sloping jaw also gave it a dragon-like appearance. Smoke puffed from its nostrils in a steady rhythm, and it stared at him as he might have stared at a hunk of roast Octorok after a day of fasting.

Time slowed. King Darunia's warning goaded him on, even as he yearned to find some safer way of killing the creature.

_"Kid, if you don't come back without killing every last monster in Dodongo's Cavern, I'll stick your head in a Bomb Flower!"_

Link broke his gaze with the monster. "Navi, if you had to choose between having your head stuck in a Bomb Flower or set on fire, which would you choose?"

"Huh?"

He grimaced. "Never mind."

With a cry, he leapt into the ditch, planting the soles of his boots on the monster's tail. His blade slid from the tough scales on its back, causing minimal damage but certainly making the monster angry. He had hoped to hold the tail in place, but instead it lashed forward, throwing him onto the head. He rolled off just as the monster clamped its teeth on the toe of his right boot, missing the flesh of his foot by inches.

With one leg trapped, he slashed at the beady eyes, and his sword came away wet with blood. Pulling his leg free from the thrashing beast, he jumped back onto its head and ran along the spine to the tail.

_It doesn't seem to want me near its tail,_ he thought. _Why?_

Taking a deep breath, he threw down his Deku Shield and aimed for the juncture where the tail hooked up with the rest of the body. Then he plunged his sword straight down with both hands. Black blood showered his tunic, going up his nose and into his eyes.

He had severed the tail completely.

"Link," said Navi. "I think you'd better run."

He didn't have to see to know what she meant. Wiping blood off his face, he ran. The lizard exploded a moment later, and the blast carried him out of the ditch to land on a rock some distance from the center of the cavern. He nearly blacked out.

"You listened that time." Navi tiptoed up his back. "Good for you."

Cradling bloody nostrils, Link pointed back towards the ditch with his sword. "I left my Deku Shield behind."

"Isn't that part of it in your lap?"

"Where?" He picked up a blackened shard of wood straddling his knees. "You mean this?" He stared at it, recognizing his initials and Saria's in the grain. The only part of the shield that _had_ survived.

"Ouch, that hurts, Brother!"

Link froze. The steam, the gurgling of lava, and the squeaking of bats had muffled the sound, but someone had called out, clearly. "Navi?"

Before the fairy could reach the spot, the young Goron huddling near the ditch perked up. "It's me, Mountainfoot!"

_Darunia's nephew. _Link frowned. "How did you get here?"

The Goron stood, pulling a splinter from its palm. "I followed you."

"Why?" said Navi.

"My brother and I wanted to see if you could defeat the Dodongos."

Link's frown deepened. "Your _brother_ and you?"

The rock Link had landed against unfolded, becoming the mottled form of Stonethrower.

Link's eyes widened slightly. "How did you find out where I was going?"

Mountainfoot clapped a hand to his face. "We hid in the smoke as you opened the door. We heard everything."

Stonethrower flung a rock at his brother's head. "If it wasn't for Mountainfoot, you never would've found us!"

Link pointed his sword, first at one, then the other Goron. "I want you to go back. Both of you."

"Why?" Mountainfoot lowered his hand.

"Your dad barely let me into the city to begin with. What will he do if you're killed?"

Stonethrower's eyes glinted. "That won't matter if you die, too."

Link shook his head. "Why should I let you come with me?"

Mountainfoot exchanged a glance with his brother. "Because Uncle Darunia blocked the entrance to the cavern."

Link and Navi shouted in tandem. "He _what_?"

Stonethrower explained. "After you left the throne room, he found us hiding by the door and told us to follow you. He said that if you tried to go back on your word and escape, we should find a Bomb Flower and…well…I probably shouldn't repeat the rest of it."

"He wanted us to make sure you destroyed all the monsters," said Moutainfoot. "We helped him block the entrance again so you couldn't get out; the only way to get out is to find a Bomb Flower."

"The only Bomb Flowers in Dodongo's Cavern are guarded by King Dodongo," Stonethrower added.

Link was afraid to ask, but he did anyway. "Who's King Dodongo?"

"A monster like the one you just destroyed," said Mountainfoot. "Only fifty times bigger."

_Fifty._ Link closed his eyes, not sure whether to laugh or throw himself in the lava. "That's a big number."

"It is, Brother," Stonethrower said. "A very big number."

* * *

After five hours in the cavern and not even a sign of King Dodongo, Link was ready to try ramming the blocked entrance with his head. If by some miracle it worked, King Darunia's wrath at his failure could scarcely be hotter than the air in the cavern.

But then, he could never go back to Hyrule Castle without the second Spiritual Stone. To disappoint those who had placed their faith in him, particularly Saria, Zelda, and the Great Deku Tree, would have been unimaginable.

"I'm starting to wish I was a Goron," he whispered to Navi.

"Why?"

He waved at the rocks littering the ground. "At least then I wouldn't have to worry what I'm going to eat."

Navi giggled.

The two Gorons had moved ahead of them. Neither seemed to mind the heat or the ever-present stench of sulfur.

"I can't believe they blocked the entrance," Navi said. "Some of them could be in here eating by now."

"Maybe." Link glanced at their companions. "It's still dangerous as long as there are any of those _things_ around."

"I wonder if we're getting close to King Dodongo."

Link turned his eyes away from where he was going as if to offer a reply, but he bumped into Stonethrower instead. The brothers had stopped and were looking around them, listening to a new sound that rumbled through the cavern.

At first, Link heard nothing. Then slowly, a rhythmic pounding, like a giant drum—or footsteps, perhaps. As the sound grew deeper, the smaller rocks began to slide across the floor.

"What is it?" Link addressed this question to Stonethrower, though he suspected he knew the answer to it already.

A tremor shook the entire cavern, loosening the stalactites overhead. One broke and crashed just behind Link. Another fell on his right. Two more shattered in the lava, spraying particles of superheated rock in several directions.

Unable to see beyond a few feet anyway, he soon lost track of the Gorons in the confusion. He called out, but there was no answer.

"Look out!"

Navi's voice saved him from being impaled by the fifth stalactite dropping from the ceiling, but it didn't save him from plummeting when the stalactite opened a hole in the already-weakened floor. So down he tumbled into the cavern beneath the cavern, spared the horror of knowing his fate until he had landed in the mouth of the monster below.

King Dodongo.

Link snatched at the nearest handhold, only to find his fingers slipping on the monster's gigantic tongue. Tightening his grip only cramped his hands, so he let go, dropping the last few feet to the back of the mouth, where he clung to the tonsils, just above the windpipe. The stink rising from the gullet—dead bats and sulfur and perhaps even the flesh of a few Gorons—nearly drove him mad.

"I'd get out of there if I were you," said Navi, hovering just at the edge of the mouth.

"Thank you, Navi." Link examined the mouth for a way of climbing out; since King Dodongo's neck was craned up, towards the roof, this was considerably more difficult than it might have been otherwise.

Suddenly, the monster roared and swung its head downward. Link lost his grip and slid out of the mouth by way of the tongue. Pushing himself to his feet, he drew his sword just as the monster clapped its mouth shut.

He could see that Mountainfoot had not been exaggerating King Dodongo's size; the monster dominated the lower cavern. Still, he wasn't sure what scared him more: the monster or the lake of boiling lava behind it.

"I think I found the Bomb Flowers!"

With a thrill of hope, he followed Navi's lead, bracing himself against a wall on his right to avoid slipping into the lava. Once, he twisted his neck around for a backward glance but was immediately sorry he had. The monster had tucked its legs beneath its body and was rolling end over end like a boulder going down a hill. And it was gaining on him with frightening speed.

As he ran, he almost forgot the pounding of his chest and the sweat pouring freely from his pores. He pumped his arms and legs furiously to reach the corner of the room that Navi had indicated. He sheathed his sword and tackled the first Bomb Flower he saw.

No sooner had he ripped the plant out of the ground than the monster slammed into the wall beside him, its limbs forcibly splayed out by the blow. Seeing its prey at hand, the monster lowered its head to his level, saliva dripping from its open mouth onto Link's chin.

Saving his disgust for later, Link lobbed the Bomb Flower into the monster's throat. The orb snagged on the tonsils, kicking in a gag reflex. The reek of carbon dioxide bubbled up from the gullet and washed over his face. In trying to dislodge the bomb with its tongue, the monster only succeeded in swallowing it.

Link flinched, expecting a rain of Dodongo guts when the bomb reached the monster's stomach, but the only sign of the explosion was a trail of black smoke that bled from each of the monster's nostrils. Then he noticed how still it had become. Its head had sunk to the ground, blood rimmed its lips, and its breath came in faint gasps.

For one awful moment, he pitied the creature. Had it been created for good, only to be enslaved by Ganondorf for his own evil purpose? Or were the Dodongos naturally evil?

"What are you doing?" said Navi. "It'll kill you!"

Link drew his sword from its sheath and approached the wounded Dodongo King. Flames seeped out from the creature's nose and mouth and dissolved in a cloud of smoke drifting over the lava. The smell of sulfur lingered in the air.

_It's trying to breathe fire._ Link watched the flames, struck dumb by curiosity and his strange reluctance to kill the creature. Then his eyes widened. _It's trying to breathe fire!_

With a ragged intake of breath, the bloody lips opened up to unleash a firestorm. There was no time for shelter. Link dropped his sword and covered his face with his arms as the fire surrounded him, singing his hair, his tunic, and his face, but never engulfing him. When the gust faded, he opened his eyes, awestruck at his survival. He glanced up at the monster, but his view of it was blocked.

A boulder had fallen directly in front of him, so close it had almost squashed him. Instead, it had provided protection from the flames.

"Why did you wait? That was too close!"

Navi's anger snapped him out of his trance. Sheathing his sword, Link dashed from behind the boulder and ran as the monster delivered a second blast of flame to the ground he had just vacated.

He knew it would follow him, but this time he repressed his fear and concentrated on finding another Bomb Flower. King Dodongo would catch up with him sooner or later, so it would do little good to spend his energy on fleeing.

Unfortunately, he had underestimated the size of the cavern. By the time he spotted another Bomb Flower, he could feel the monster's breath on his back and neck, and the dust stirred up by its passing made it all the more difficult to see where he was going.

When he saw the boulder slumped in the corner of the steaming lake, he didn't even question how it had gotten there—it certainly hadn't been there before. Trusting that it would hold his weight, he leapt, landing on the boulder with one foot and pushing off with the other so that he landed on the opposite shore right by the Bomb Flower.

Unable to turn the corner smoothly, the monster smacked into the wall again, driving the ridges on its back into the rock so that it couldn't move freely.

Link hesitated. With the monster stuck in the wall and its mouth unreachable, the Bomb Flower was useless. But since he already had it in his hand and the fuse was about to run out, he decided it was better to worry about the monster later.

"Get rid of that thing quick," said Navi, "before it turns us into Dodongo meat!"

Ignoring her, Link flung the bomb towards the wall just as it detonated. The blast rocked him off his feet, but it also punched a hole in the wall, freeing King Dodongo.

He stepped back, ready to flee again. But then he saw it, a Bomb Flower resting just beneath the hole in the wall. He dove for it without thinking, unwittingly dodging another column of flame from King Dodongo—mostly. Fire licked at the soles of his boots, but he had bigger things to worry about.

Even as the monster swung to face him, he tore the Bomb Flower from the ground and hurled it.

_That skin is too thick to cut through, _he thought, pulling out his sword. What could he do to take advantage of the monster's weakness once the bomb exploded?

When the bomb went off, the monster's mouth snapped shut, but in the short time between the moment he had thrown the bomb and the moment it went off, Link had jumped back _into_ the mouth and pointed the Kokiri Sword upwards. The monster snapped its mouth shut, but in so doing, the roof of its mouth came down on the tip of the sword, driving it up into vital organs inside the head.

With a grunt, Link pulled his sword free, parted the jaws with a light push, and escaped into the cavern.

The monster began to convulse, sapping its remaining strength by thumping its head against the wall. Enveloped in clouds of dust and rock, Link welcomed the fatigue that swept over him and hoped that someone would carry him back to Goron City, because now seemed like a very good time for a nap. He swore that once he left that place and claimed the Spiritual Stone of the Gorons, he would never set foot on Death Mountain. Ever. Again.

* * *

**In this section of the story, one of the most difficult aspects of adapting the game into a novel was to flesh out King Darunia. How do you explain a king who basically hangs out in his throne room all day while his people are starving? Not an easy task. I was tempted to turn this into a team-up with Link and send them _both_ into the cavern to deal with the Dodongos, but that just didn't feel right. Too different from the game, and too similar to what transpires in the Fire Temple later on. Hint, hint.**

**As you can see, I couldn't resist having a little fun with the Goron diet. At this point, we've reached page 128 out of 406 pages in the overall manuscript. So we've still got about two-thirds of the way to go. Expect the overall story to continue to stay true to the game, but there will be some fun surprises along the way, too. Thanks for reading, everyone!**


	15. The Prize

Chapter 14: The Prize

Somewhere in the corner of his mind, Link sensed the change in the atmosphere even before he woke. From the heat, he knew he was still inside the mountain, so it couldn't be that that had caught his attention. It was something else, a change in the very feel of the place, as of darkness turning to light or sadness to joy.

"Hey, he's awake!"

Feet pounded the cavern floor. Link sat up instantly, sure he'd be trampled by the crowd of Gorons pressing in around him. But Navi scolded anyone that got too close, intimidating even the largest of them with a feistiness that belied her size.

"Stay back. Give him room to breathe!"

Bullying his way through the crowd, King Darunia chuckled and dropped a rock at Link's feet. "Heroes don't get room to breathe."

A flicker of worry crossed Link's face. "What do you mean?"

"You killed the Dodongos. You saved our people."

"Are you sure I killed all of them?"

"We have witnesses." Flashing a savage grin, the King stamped his foot, rattling stones and stalactites. "Stonethrower. Mountainfoot!"

The two brothers appeared next to their uncle. Both avoided eye contact with Link.

"Well? Tell him what happened," the King said.

Still eying the floor, Stonethrower spoke. "We hid just before you fell into King Dodongo's mouth. We were only supposed to watch, but when he started chasing you, we couldn't stay put."

"I jumped first," said Mountainfoot. "By accident, I fell just where I needed to be to block King Dodongo's fire."

Stonethrower nodded. "And I was the boulder in the corner of the lake."

King Darunia slapped his nephews on the back, nearly bowling them over. "They told me you were a brave fighter. Normally, I'd punish them for disobeying me, but they only helped you by accident. Besides, what matters is that you proved yourself a hero." He pointed to the rock at Link's feet. "And for that, we give you the honor of eating the first rock."

Link stared, horrified beyond words. After all he'd been through, they expected him to do _this?_ _Please tell me I didn't hear that._

But the king pounded his chest. "No Goron will eat before the Hero himself has eaten."

"Oh." Link's lower lip curled slightly. "Well…I'm not hungry."

A fairy-sized elbow struck Link in the ribs. "Eat it," Navi hissed.

Link glared at his companion as if she had told him to jump off a cliff. Though she didn't show it, he knew she was enjoying his torment. He also knew she was right.

With a deep breath, he knelt facing the rock and grasped both sides of it. Slowly, he opened his mouth, ready to break his teeth for the cause of honor.

But then someone snorted, and the game was over. He remembered that Barough, the King's brother, had offered him the leg of one of the spider-like Tektites inhabiting the trail to Goron City as a joke when they first met. So he had fallen for the same trick twice.

For a split second, it almost made him wish he had left the Dodongos alive.

"That was great," said Navi. "You would have done it, too!"

Link spun on King Darunia. "I don't have time for this! You…you'd better keep your promise!"

"I gave my word," said the King. "I'll keep my promise and more."

Link made as if to reply, but a sudden buzz of activity at the center of the cavern drew his attention. He watched as Mountainfoot and some of the other young Gorons gobbled armfuls of the scrumptious rocks they had been denied for weeks. Having taken the edge off their hunger, a few of the older children threw their half-eaten rocks at each other and at the adults.

Unfortunately, one of the King's nephews—Stonethrower—seemed determined to involve the whole cavern.

"_Food fight!"_

Soon, the air was thick with pebbles, boulders, and slabs of granite that made the cavern just as dangerous a place for Link as it had been before he killed the Dodongos. Without looking back, he fled.

"Wait for me!" said Navi.

* * *

Link stumbled out of Dodongo's Cavern several minutes later, leaving the deadly food fight behind him. Golden fingers of sunlight dappled his face, making him well aware of all the burns and bruises he'd sustained in the last few hours.

"That was some party, wasn't it, brother?"

Startled, Link turned to find that Darunia had snuck up behind him amidst what was left of the boulder Ganondorf had planted at the cavern's entrance. "For you, maybe. I hope I never see another rock again."

"Does that mean you don't want the prize I promised you?"

Link paled. In his haste to escape the cavern, he had almost forgotten the Spiritual Stone. "Of course."

"Hold out your hands, then!" Darunia reached into his mouth and groped about the inside of his left cheek until he found what he was looking for, pulled it out, and dropped it into Link's hands.

Link gaped at the object in his palm. It was a ruby cradled in a gold sheath, shining as brightly as ever in spite of the saliva coating its surface.

The King smiled. "Goron's Ruby. It's a beauty, isn't it?"

"Gross is a better word," said Navi.

"What? Did you think I was going to call it out of thin air?"

Link grimaced. "I think I would have liked that better."

"Actually, it seemed like the best place to hide it from Ganondorf." The King patted his cheek.

"Oh." Link slipped the ruby into his leather pouch.

Once more, Darunia beat a fist against his chest. "What you did for us won't be forgotten. You're a real man now. If you and Princess Zelda are smart about it, that hare-brained scheme of yours might actually have a chance. But if you think the Dodongos were anything compared to Ganondorf, you've got a long way to go."

Link nodded. "I'll remember that."

"Say!" Darunia's smile grew bigger. "Why don't you and I become Sworn Brothers?"

Link raised an eyebrow. "Does that mean I have to eat rocks?"

"No, there's no ceremony involved. All you have to do is agree to become my Sworn Brother. That means we're bound together whatever happens. Among my people, there is no greater bond than that, not even blood."

Link traded glances with Navi. "I'll do it, then."

"Great. Now we make it official with a Goron hug."

"A Goron _what?"_ Link eyed Darunia's bulging arms and imagined them wrapped tight around his neck. "Can we skip that part?"

Out of nowhere, Darunia's nephews came skipping out of the cavern. "Did someone say hug, Uncle Darunia?" Both of them saw Link in the same instant. "How about a _big_ Goron hug, brother?"

Link wanted to say no, but the brothers seized his outstretched arms and locked him in their vicious embrace from both sides. Their grip, though not as strong as their uncle's, proved just as effective at smothering him.

Off to the side, Darunia laughed and observed as Link broke from his nephews and fled down the trail towards the village. "So long, Brother," he called out. "May it not be long before you return again!"

* * *

At any other time, the Golden Rupee would have echoed with the shouts of old men and young men debating over farming methods, the raising of cattle, or the wisdom of the latest royal decree—not necessarily in that order. Talk ran long into the night, until wives barged in to drag their husbands to bed or the husbands tired of repeating the same conversation time and again.

But today, there were fewer shouts and even less variety in the conversation. Many patrons traded whispers back and forth; some simply listened, content to sit back while the rest aired their theories, anxieties, and predictions for current events local and otherwise.

"I say a Gerudo killed him," one beefy man exclaimed, pounding his mug on the cherry table in front of him.

"And what makes you so sure?" A black-haired farmer pointed at the first man. "Who says it couldn't have been someone around here?"

"You know anyone who hates the royals enough to kill one of their best men?"

"Maybe it was Dampé."

"The grave keeper?" A third man chuckled. "He couldn't swing that walking stick hard enough to kill a Skulltula, let alone a Knight."

The farmer grunted. "All I'm saying is there aren't as many people dying lately. You know how much that codger gets for a burial? Maybe he just needed the business."

The man sitting to himself in the corner closest to the door snorted, his bushy mustache wrinkling with the motion. Though no one had paid him any mind since he came in, he had been listening as closely to the talk as any, so intently, in fact, that sweat had broken out on his face whenever someone mentioned the Gerudos.

"Doesn't matter who killed him." This came from the innkeeper. "Cahus is still dead."

The tavern greeted this with silence. Some sipped at their mugs, others at their pipes. Someone coughed.

The door opened with a creak. This would hardly have merited a second glance, were it not for the sudden quiet and the prevailing mood of suspicion that day.

"Din's Fire," someone whispered. "What a sight!"

The boy standing in the doorway shifted uncomfortably, as if questioning the wisdom of entering the tavern.

"Looks like he's been for a swim in the volcano," said another.

Link gently closed the door and tried to ignore the stares as he approached the innkeeper. "I'm hungry."

"And I'm Jem." The innkeeper stuck out a hand. "But you can call me Toadstool."

"Would it…" Link scratched his ear. "Do you have something I could take with me?"

"We don't call this the Golden Rupee for nothing, boy. You have money, we have food. Otherwise, nice meeting you."

Link hesitated before looking the man full in the face. "I came from Hyrule Castle Town. A woman named Impa said they could help me here."

This brought on a general murmur of conversation.

"Well, why didn't you say so in the first place?" The innkeeper grinned. "Always glad to help a friend of a friend."

Link breathed a sigh of relief while the innkeeper rummaged through the pantry in the back room, returning with half a load of bread, a sliver of cheese, and a small vial swirling with a familiar white liquid.

Link licked his lips as he held out his hands to accept the offering. "Thank you."

The innkeeper nodded towards the corner of the room. "You can thank Ingo for the milk. Delivered fresh just this morning."

The mustached man in the corner nodded but did not meet Link's gaze. "Pleasure."

"Give my regards the next time you see Impa." The innkeeper waved as Link turned to scuttle back through the door. "Whatever your name is…"

The conversation remained muted until Link had shut the door firmly behind him. As if one hadn't been enough, now there were two major topics for discussion.

"There, did you see that?" The farmer gestured towards the door. "Dampé must have made the kid do it for him. The two are in cahoots, I tell you."

The innkeeper laughed at that. "What do you think, Ingo? Did the Gerudos kill Cahus, or was it the boy and the grave keeper?"

No response came from the table in the corner. It took a moment for the innkeeper and everyone else to realize Ingo was no longer there.

The farmer grunted. "Maybe Ingo's in on it, too."

* * *

Once they had escaped the tavern, Navi left her hiding place in Link's pouch.

"Are you sure that was a good idea?"

Link shrugged. "How else were we supposed to get food? It was Impa's idea."

"I don't think she meant for you to attract that much attention."

"Maybe." Turning south towards the stairway he had taken to get into the village, he frowned. "I'd feel better if I hadn't lost my shield. Something tells me Ganon's already tried to get the third Spiritual Stone. If _he_ didn't get it, we'll probably have to fight if we want it for ourselves."

"If he finds out you have two of them already…"

Link shook his head. "He's never seen me. Even if he knew—"

"He saw you in Hyrule Castle Town. And you dropped the Kokiri Emerald in front of him, remember?"

"He was moving too fast. He couldn't have seen it."

"Just be careful, Link. Okay? The Great Deku Tree asked me to look after you. You're not making it easy."

* * *

Link never saw it coming. Before he had taken three steps outside Kakariko Village, a hard glass bottle cracked him on the back of the head, and he fell unconscious.

The fairy proved more difficult, but in thirty seconds, the masked man had trapped her inside the bottle with a stopper and thrown a cloth over it to keep her from seeing.

Now he had to get them both to the ranch and contact the Gerudos. If his lord was pleased, perhaps he would be rewarded with the prize he had earned from his good-for-nothing boss, Talon.

That prize, of course, was Lon Lon Ranch.


	16. Lon Lon Ranch

Chapter 15: Lon Lon Ranch

_He swears at Jove's high altar by Epona,  
__whose picture's daubed on the doors of his reeking stables.  
__  
_~Juvenal, _Satires_

* * *

Malon loved the smell of burning wood. Its sweet scent filled the air for miles around, calling her home whenever she left the ranch on an errand. In her mind, she could always picture the crackling flames and the logs turning white as they split in a geyser of sparks.

Today, she had taken a foal out to graze in Hyrule Field and had come home to find a surprise waiting for her. Beneath the tree that grew by the house, her father had lit a small fire to welcome her. Not unusual.

It was the body lying _next_ to the fire that had seized her attention.

How the boy had gotten there, she could only imagine. Still, no time to question the gift fate had brought her. Tying Epona to the trunk of the tree, she shook her guest awake.

"Hey." Aroused from the shelter of Link's sleeve, Navi pinched Malon's arm. "Stop it. He's asleep!"

Link stirred from his rest with a moan. The first thing he saw was a crop of red hair dangling mere inches above his face. The first thing he felt was that hair brushing his nose so that he sneezed. The first thing he heard was her voice.

"Where am I?" He propped himself on his elbows and took in the sight of Lon Lon Ranch. To his right, a narrow lawn divided the house from the barn, where he could hear horses bucking their stalls and cows mooing in a racket that seemed to repeat itself every few minutes. To his left, the yard opened up into a larger meadow occupied by chickens and a fenced-in corral for horses.

"You're at Lon Lon Ranch, silly." Malon rolled onto her back and leaned up against the tree next to Link. "If you don't know how you got here, I sure don't."

"How long have I been here?"

"I've been gone all day."

"Navi?"

The fairy appeared at his side. "Here."

Link held his palm open for Navi to land in. "What's going on?"

"Someone attacked us when we left the village. They were wearing a mask."

"And they brought us here?"

"I couldn't see anything. They put me in a bottle with a blanket over it. There might have been more than one person."

Link sighed and laid his head back against the tree before he finally noticed the foal. Startled, he sat up and looked from Malon to the foal and back again. "Is that a horse?"

Malon giggled. "Link, meet Epona. Epona, meet Link." She pointed to the corral on their left. "Epona's mother was _my_ mother's favorite horse."

The door to the house swung open. Talon peered into the yard and saw the two of them by the fire. "You two hungry?"

The barn door opened with a crash before they could answer. A man with a mustache came stumbling out with a pitchfork in one hand and a pail of water in the other. "Did someone say dinner?"

"You ought to know, Mr. Ingo," Malon said, still laughing. "You could smell a scrambled egg halfway across Hyrule!"

"True, Miss Malon, but my nose for a meal isn't half so good as your eye for a fine horse."

Malon blushed. "Thank you."

"Hey." Link stood to his feet, wincing as he felt the lump on the back of his head. "Could someone tell me where my things are…and why I'm here in the first place?"

Talon waved the spatula in his right fist at the scenery around them. "What's the hurry? You wouldn't leave without tasting my flame-broiled Tektite, would you?"

"I wish we could." Link scratched his head. "It's important that I leave right away."

"Oh, alright. Ingo, find him a horse and take him back to his folks. They're probably worried about him by now."

Link shook his head. "It's not that. I…don't have any parents."

"Then what's so important you would leave without having dinner? Aren't you hungry, young man?"

Link glanced at the place where his leather pouch should have been. "I can't tell you."

Malon grabbed his arm. "Stay. Please. Whatever you're doing can wait one night, can't it?"

The man with the mustache set his pitchfork and pail down by the side of the barn. "It's getting late, too. Might as well spend the night and leave in the morning. You wouldn't get very far tonight, anyway."

"What do you think?" Link looked at Navi.

"We can't waste time," Navi said, "but I think he's right. We wouldn't get that far."

Malon clapped her hands. "It's settled then. Come on, dad, hurry up and bring out the food!"

* * *

Link gawked at his plate in horror for several minutes. Had they not been so busy stuffing themselves, Malon, Talon, and Ingo would have noticed that he hadn't taken a single bite of Talon's flame-broiled Tektite, which bore an undeniable resemblance to the spider-like creatures that had attacked him on Death Mountain.

Talon came up for air first. Taking a deep breath, he wiped his empty plate with the sleeve of his shirt and proudly reached for seconds. Then he remembered his guest. "So what do you think?"

Link picked up his fork with a grimace. _Better get it over with._ He stuck the fork in a chunk of blue meat and lifted it to his mouth. Without chewing, he swallowed the whole piece.

It wasn't so bad at first. The taste reminded him of roast Octorok, only with a squishier texture. That is, until the spice erupted in his throat. Tears came to his eyes, and his cheeks flushed red. Snatching up a glass of Lon Lon Milk, he drank it in one breath, coughing when he set it down in the grass beside the fire.

"It's…the best flame-broiled Tektite I've ever tasted."

"I knew it!" Talon slammed his wrist against his knee. "I should start selling it in town!"

Link silently begged forgiveness for the fib and bit into the scrambled eggs. "So how did I get here?"

Malon laid her fork down. "I want to know, too."

Ingo fingered his mustache. "You may remember seeing me at Kakariko Village."

Link studied the man until his eyes gleamed with recognition. "You were sitting in the corner when that man gave me the food."

"That's right. I left right after you did, as a matter of fact. I had to get back to the ranch to finish my work for the day." Ingo shot a glance at Talon, barely noticeable. "When I saw you on the ground—it was just outside the village, Miss Malon—it looked like someone had tried to rob you, maybe. They must have heard me coming, though, since they didn't take everything."

Link swallowed. "Where are they?"

"Where's what?"

"The things I had with me!"

"Oh." Ingo chuckled. "I thought they'd be safe enough in Miss Malon's room."

Link pushed himself up to his feet again and stared at Ingo over the fire. "I'd like to see."

Talon grunted and reached for thirds. "Better help him find his stuff, hon, before he has a fit."

Malon waved them toward the house. "This way, fairy boy!"

* * *

Link sighed when he opened the charred leather pouch. The Spiritual Stones, Zelda's letters, the food he'd gotten in Kakariko Village, the Fairy Ocarina: everything was right where it should be. Strapping his sword back onto his belt, he paused.

_Hyrule's in danger while I'm sleeping with cows and horses._ He shook his head. _I should have left by now._

"I'm glad you decided to stay," Malon said, her feet rousing creaks from the pine floor. "I don't get to talk to many people my own age out here, and when I'm in town, I'm usually just helping dad with his business."

Link shuddered at the memory of their most recent meeting. "Did you know the Knight in the village who was killed?"

Malon's smile faded until he could see tears glittering on her cheeks. "Cahus was always friendly to my dad when he delivered milk to the village."

"You didn't seem uncomfortable when you were trying to save him," Navi said.

Malon folded her arms. "I've helped my dad try to save dying animals. Trying to save a person isn't the same at all, but if you pretend it is, it's a little less terrible while you're doing it."

Link nodded. "You were good at it."

"I didn't save him."

"But that wasn't your fault. He was already dead, wasn't he?"

"I don't want to think about it." Malon grabbed his hand and guided him toward the stairs leading back to the ground floor of the house. "Come on. Let's go outside."

The three of them clattered down the stairs, passing through the kitchen on their way to the door. Talon had scooped up the dinner plates and carried them to a tub of water lying on the kitchen table, but not before licking them all to prevent the waste of any stray crumbs.

"Where are you three going in such a hurry?"

Malon barely glanced at her father. "Stargazing. Out by the tree!"

"Oh." Talon waggled his brows at Link. "She must like you. Most boys are lucky to survive past dinner."

_"Dad!"_

Malon nearly tore the door from its hinges in her eagerness to escape the house. Slamming it behind her, she fled towards the meadow, clutching Link's hand in hers until they had reached the tree. There, she released him and threw herself down by the embers of the dying campfire.

"Sit down," she said.

Keeping a comfortable distance, Link hunched back on his elbows until the back of his head touched the tree. Between them, the foal, Epona, neighed quietly and scuffed the grass.

For a while, neither said a word. Navi seemed content to roost in the tree's branches above them.

"So where are you from, fairy boy?"

Link looked back at Malon through Epona's legs. "This is the first time I've left the forest my whole life."

"I should have known." Malon smiled. "When I saw your clothes, I thought they were strange. Then I saw your fairy, and I knew."

"You've heard of the Kokiri?"

"I've heard stories, but I never knew they were true until now."

"I know what you mean." Link stared into the distance, awash in the sights and smells and thoughts and feelings of his journey. "It's like I was asleep until I left the forest, dreaming about other places and wishing I could go there. Then one day, I wake up and find out they're all real."

"Why did you leave? You said you were doing something important, but what is it?"

"I can't tell you everything." He peered up at Navi, who pretended to ignore them but was almost certainly eavesdropping. "It's about Hyrule. Something bad may happen to all of us if what I'm doing doesn't work."

"So you're trying to save the world." Malon ran her hand gently along Epona's left flank. "I guess that _would_ put you in a hurry."

Link frowned. The shadows cast by the rising moon made it difficult to be sure, but he thought he saw a man tiptoeing through the corral, carrying a saddle and bridle and peeking over his shoulder every so often.

Just as he recognized the silhouette as Ingo's, a scream tore the night and stopped him from wondering what Ingo could be doing and why.

The scream had come from Malon. While he had been distracted by Ingo, a shadow on the roof of the barn had jumped to the ground, merging with Malon's shadow. The profile of her assailant stood out in the moonlight.

The Gerudo had Malon by the waist. By instinct, Link knew the woman would have weapons concealed near at hand, so he had to think of a way to keep her from getting them. His eye fell on the ashes of the campfire, stirred up by the terrified foal, Epona.

Before he could act, Malon had hooked her legs behind the Gerudo's kneecaps and pressed her weight against the woman's chest, pulling them both down hard on their backs. The force of the body landing on top of her drove the wind from the woman's lungs and freed Malon's upper limbs. Grabbing her assailant's arm, she yanked it to her mouth and bit down hard, drawing blood.

The Gerudo rolled to her feet with a curse and drew a pair of scimitars from a hidden sheath. Catching the glint of the blades in the moonlight, Malon froze.

Meanwhile, Link had stepped to the edge of the fire. "Leave her alone!" At this, the Gerudo reacted exactly as he had hoped she would: she turned completely to face him.

Link kicked the ashes of the fire into the woman's face, and while she stumbled about trying to flush her eyes, he picked up a blackened log and hurled it at the lowest part of her shins, hoping it would knock her over.

Malon shrieked as the woman rose up with a snarl and stabbed the soft part of her elbow.

"You and your father need not be killed. It is only the boy Lord Ganondorf desires."

Dizzy with pain, Malon clutched the wounded arm to her chest. "My father…owns this ranch. If you don't leave now…"

The woman scoffed, raising both swords above her head. "A rat does not tell the owl to leave when the owl is hungry."

"Watch out!" said Navi.

While the others had been grappling by the campfire, the fairy had been watching Ingo as he struggled to harness one of the horses. He had finally succeeded, but in his haste to climb into the saddle, his foot caught in the stirrup, and the frightened horse had taken off in the direction of the house, dragging Ingo along behind it.

Link charged past the Gerudo and tackled Malon to the ground, taking them both out of harm's way by a hairsbreadth. The Gerudo, sensing the danger, leapt aside a split second later, too late to avoid the horse entirely. The beast knocked her into the ring of the campfire, beneath the hooves of Epona.

The woman's body jerked as the foal trampled her, and Link found himself repulsed, even by the death of one of Ganondorf's servants.

The woman choked and tried to spit blood in their direction, but a broken collarbone prevented her from rising. "Fools…Hyrule will die…for its crimes against our people. There is nothing you can do to stop…the cleansing."

Link shuddered but could think of nothing to say. Not that it would have mattered. The woman's eyes had closed, and the rise and fall of her chest ceased as soon as the words had left her lips.

Malon whimpered. "I'm cold."

Link swallowed the bile rising in his throat and backed away from the Gerudo's body. Epona had snapped the rope holding her to the tree and galloped towards the corral.

"Link." Navi's wings beat silently in the night. "Malon's hurt."

He nodded and tore a scrap of his tunic at the left sleeve. Twisting the fabric around Malon's elbow, he tied it in a knot to staunch the flow of blood.

"You saved my life, fairy boy…"

Link shuddered. "I put you in danger by staying. She came here for _me."_ _And probably,_ he added to himself, _for the Spiritual Stones._

* * *

**I hope everyone enjoyed the Goron "food fight" and our first detailed look at Lon Lon Ranch and its inhabitants, human and horse alike. This weekend, I'll be attending Gen Con Indy 2012, so look for the next chapters to be posted probably on Monday, 8/20, following my descent from geek bliss. Take care!**


	17. Zora's Domain

Chapter 16: Zora's Domain

Talon, who had been snoozing in the house when Link and Malon were attacked by the Gerudo, insisted that Link stay the night when he discovered what had happened.

"No use arguing, son. It'd be a fine thing for me to let you go in the middle of the night, seeing as you saved my Malon's life, with who knows how many more of those women hanging around out there just waiting to lay their hands on you."

Link reluctantly agreed to the logic. _Not because I'm afraid for myself,_ he thought,_ but if they _are _out there and they know I have the Spiritual Stones, I'll never make it to Zora's Domain unless I go in the daytime. Maybe not even then._

He tried to ignore that last thought as he tossed and turned on a cot in Talon's bedroom. Between his own anxieties and Talon's snoring, it would be a long night.

In the morning, Malon and Talon accompanied him to Zora's River on horseback, with Link riding behind Talon on one of the stallions and Malon riding solo on the foal, Epona. After a quick breakfast on the riverbank, the three of them parted ways.

"Can't imagine what a young fellow like you could be doing that'd have the Gerudos in an uproar," said Talon, "but good luck to you."

Looking up at him shyly, Malon offered him her right hand, keeping her left arm—with the scrap from Link's sleeve still tied around the elbow—at her side. "Thanks again, fairy boy, for saving me. Come back soon."

Before Link could reply to these good wishes, Talon loaded him up with an armful of fresh vegetables, most of which he had heard of but never seen before.

He whispered to Navi. "Is that a…"

"Tomato," she said, confirming his suspicions.

"And that's a…squish?"

"Squash."

"I knew that."

Talon grunted. "Ingo may be a handful sometimes, but he keeps a garden like nobody else _I've_ seen. You'll be grateful for those later."

"Thanks." Link nodded and stuffed as many tomatoes into his pouch as possible, then wondered what he would do with the rest of them. But the foal solved the problem for him by lunging forward and snatching them up in her teeth, splattering vegetable flesh and the seeds of tomatoes, squash, and cucumbers on the grass.

"Well," Talon said with a chuckle, "at least someone's enjoying them."

* * *

Link splashed through silt and sank to his knees in the river as he crossed from one bank to another. This stretch of Zora's River, just east of Kakariko Village, made a sharp turn into a narrow ravine with more water and less of a riverbank the closer they came towards the domain of the Zoras, a noble if somewhat reclusive race, as he recalled from the Deku Tree's stories.

"Did you believe Ingo?" said Navi.

Link frowned. "You mean when he said he was _trying_ to run over the Gerudo? No."

"Don't you think it's strange he just happened to follow us out of the village after you were attacked and he _just happened_ to see the Gerudo coming last night?"

"Yes."

"What if he's helping them?"

Link crawled onto the bank, wiping mud from his legs. "He did seem nervous while we were there. That would make sense if he was hiding something."

"Do you think we should go back and tell Talon about him?"

"Tell him what? We don't know anything for sure." Link peered into the distance to see if he could spot any sign of the Zoras' habitation. "Right now, the best way to do what the Great Deku Tree asked us to do, what Zelda asked us to do, is to get the other Spiritual Stone."

With that, they plodded on, encountering the source of the river a half-mile to the north. The roar of the waterfall drowned out talk and restricted vision to a few feet because of the great mist thrown up by the water's force.

"This is it?"

He glanced at the cliffs to either side and saw nothing that remotely hinted at any kind of settlement. _So it has to be _inside_ the waterfall,_ he thought.

A natural arch formed of soil and rock stretched over the river facing the waterfall. Link climbed the arch to get a better view of their surroundings.

"Did you try looking down?" said Navi.

Link stared at the inscription in the stone at his feet. "Sleepless waterfall," he read. "The flow of this waterfall serves the King of Hyrule. When the King slumbers, so too do these falls."

"'Serves the King of Hyrule'?" Navi squeaked. "What's that supposed to mean?"

While he had been reading the inscription, Link had pulled out his Fairy Ocarina, and now he raised it to his mouth. "Maybe it means…_this."_ With a little more confidence than he had shown in Goron City, he played Zelda's Lullaby, the signal between the Royal Family and its allies.

After an expectant pause, he heard the scrape of stone on stone as a door concealed behind the waterfall directly in front of him slid open. He squinted trying to determine what, if anything, was on the other side of that door. When another minute went by and nothing else had happened, he backed up as much as he could without falling off the arch and leapt the short distance from the arch to the waterfall, spluttering as the weight of the water pressed down on his body, yet somehow tumbling through the doorway with only a scrape of the knees.

Brushing himself off, he saw they had entered a narrow tunnel. Here, the air was humid, but unlike the smothering air of Dodongo's Cavern, it was a pleasant humidity, like being near a hot spring.

Once he had managed to regain his balance, Link strolled to the end of the tunnel and stopped. Crystal-clear pools untainted by pollution filled the caverns of Zora's Domain, each body of water glowing with a soft light that reflected off smooth sandstone walls of blue. A second waterfall poured over a ledge at the east-most side of the cavern ahead, glittering with drops of dew and rainbow colors.

Flickers of movement beneath the water caught Link's eye. Sleek forms dipped and dived with grace, sometimes coming to the surface, but mostly staying submerged. The Zoras?

"Beautiful," said Navi.

Alerted to the strangers' arrival, one Zora rose from the bottom of the nearest lake, spraying water on Link and Navi as it climbed onto the shore. Its arms and legs resembled a human's, but blue skin and a fish-tail dangling from the back of its skull gave the lie to any true similarity.

Navi ventured from the shelter of the tunnel first. "Hi!"

"Greetings." The creature's voice was deep yet airy, as if it came from a long way off.

"We're friends of the Royal Family," Link said, taking a few cautious steps forward. "We'd like to speak with your King."

"Unless you have information on the whereabouts of his daughter, Princess Ruto, the King is unlikely to speak with you today."

"I think he will when he hears what he have to say."

The Zora pointed east, towards the waterfall. "You are welcome to try, friend, as long as you come in peace. But make no requests unless you have something to offer in return."

"Thank you." Link turned to follow the path the Zora had indicated, a path that ran along a sandstone ridge bordering the edge of the cavern.

As the path rose higher, the view grew more spectacular—and since there were no pollutants, Link could see to the bottom of every lake in the cavern. Dozens of Zoras twirled and twisted in the water as if compelled to make an art of every stroke.

"I have a feeling," said Navi.

"Me too." Link reluctantly tore his gaze away from the Zoras. "What's yours?"

"I think if we want the Zoras' Spiritual Stone, we'll have to find Princess Ruto."

"Funny." Link raised both eyebrows. "That's my feeling, too."

Soon, the view on their left disappeared behind a wall. Ahead, a long stairway carved from the same blue rock scaled the way to the throne room. At the top, a pair of guards wielding spears barred the way. Link approached them warily; when their looks became suspicious, he fumbled once more for his ocarina and played Zelda's Lullaby.

"Oh, oh!" A voice piped up from the throne room. "It's a messenger from the Royal Family. Please let him in!"

The guards lowered their spears, and Link passed into the throne room. Contrary to his expectations, the King was nothing like the rest of the Zoras, at least in his appearance. Where his people embodied form and grace, King Zora never moved without jiggling. His eyes rolled back and forth like balls of jelly at the top of his head, and his legs dangled, not from the edge of an ornate throne, but from a simple ledge at the back of the room.

"Gross," Navi said, too low to be heard by any but Link.

Breathing the dead-fish stench that choked the air, Link ascended the dais that faced the King and bowed, holding the gesture as long as he thought polite.

"Oh, dear. And who might you be?"

"I _am_ a messenger of the Royal Family." Link bowed again and held up the letter Zelda had intended for Cahus, the Knight who guarded Death Mountain. "I'm Link. This is Navi."

A page, probably no older than Link himself—though it was hard to tell—took the letter and rushed it to the King. The King stared at the writing for a while, then sat back on his ample bottom and grunted.

"I don't read Hylian, I'm afraid."

Navi answered for them. "It says we're on a matter of royal business, and it's signed by Princess Zelda."

"We'd like to help you find Princess Ruto," said Link.

"Oh, dear."

Link tried to smile. "Can you tell us anything that might help?"

The King jiggled uncomfortably. "Every morning, my daughter visits our patron deity, Lord Jabu-Jabu, to feed him and talk to him. This morning, she went out as usual, but she hasn't been seen since then. Lord Jabu-Jabu _has_ been acting rather strange lately, ever since…"

"What? Since what?" Link couldn't help betraying his curiosity.

"Since that man Ganondorf visited," the King finished.

_Why isn't that surprising?_ Link grimaced. _Always one step ahead._

"We'll help you find her," Navi said. "Won't we, Link?"

The King sighed loudly. "Yes, yes. I doubt someone like you will have better fortune finding her than any of my people, but please do try. Guards, escort Mr. Link to the Lord Jabu-Jabu's shrine."

The same guards that had stopped Link just a minute ago flanked him on either side before bowing to the King.

"Excuse us, Highness," one of them said.

"Oh, yes." King Zora shifted his massive bulk, leaving room for the guards and Link to squeeze through the gate at the back of the throne room.

Alone, the King bowed his head and blubbered over his troubles. "Dear Ruto. I'm so sorry!"

* * *

It turned out that the tunnel at the back of King Zora's throne room opened onto a body of water wider than Zora's River and deeper than the pools within Zora's Domain itself. The end closest to the tunnel remained shallow for several meters out, then it dropped off sharply. The guards escorted Link to the edge of the drop-off before they stopped.

One of the guards pointed. "That is the altar to Lord Jabu-Jabu, where Princess Ruto makes her offerings to the god morning and evening."

Link followed their gaze to a square of marble resting on the skirts of the cliff. However, what lay just beyond it, in the deeper parts of the water, was far more arresting.

An armored fish, nearly the size of a whale, had claimed those waters. Its dorsal fin stuck out like the ridge of a mountain, and its eyes were almost as large as Link himself.

Link licked dry lips. "What does he usually eat?"

"He prefers small fish," the other guard said, "but of late, he has been willing to eat larger bodies."

"Has he ever eaten a person?" said Navi.

The guards exchanged glances. "No," said the first who had spoken, "but there are those who believe that the curse Ganondorf placed on Zora's Domain has affected the god's appetite."

_They think he may have eaten Princess Ruto; they're just afraid to tell the King,_ Link thought.

The guards bowed and made to reenter the tunnel, but before they had gone more than three meters, a vile roar stayed their progress. Lord Jabu-Jabu had opened his jaws, and a great gust of foul wind began to suck every loose object in the vicinity toward his mouth.

Link yelled into the wind, but no one seemed to hear him. Apparently, the patron deity of the Zoras had mistaken them for a burnt offering.

_Well, there is some good in this._ He closed his eyes. _Maybe we'll find out what happened to Princess Ruto…_


	18. In the Belly of Jabu Jabu

Chapter 17: In the Belly of Jabu-Jabu

_And the Lord appointed a great fish to swallow up Jonah.  
__And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.  
__  
_~Jonah 1:17

* * *

_Drip. Drip. Drip._

"Navi, why didn't you tell me it was raining?" Link stirred but did not open his eyes.

A fat drop of _something_ had splattered on his lips. He began to lick it off, but it certainly didn't taste like rain. _What is this stuff?_

"Are you awake?" The fairy's voice echoed as if they were in some sort of cavern.

He grunted, afraid to look for himself. "Where are we?"

"Open your eyes and find out." Navi landed on his chest. "By the way, I wouldn't lick that stuff if I were you."

Link opened his eyes just as another drop of Lord Jabu-Jabu's saliva smacked him in the forehead. "Oh." Suddenly, the last meal he had eaten threatened to reverse course.

"If you think that's gross, look at what happened to the Zoras."

Link had no particular desire to see the guards or what was left of them, but he did want to get out of there, so he sat up with a groan and, with Navi's help, peered into the darkness and the recesses of Lord Jabu-Jabu's mouth. Bloodied fish heads, bones, and other signs of the god's recent meals had been scattered like so much debris.

"You should feel lucky," said Navi. "You could have ended up like them."

If the saliva had made him sick, the sight of the half-chewed guards killed Link's appetite indefinitely. "How are we going to…?"

"Get out of here?" Navi chirped. "Either we find a way to get him to open his mouth again…or we follow the rest of the food out the other end."

"I was afraid of that."

Checking his pouch to make sure he hadn't lost anything important, Link took several deep breaths before wading into the puddle of saliva at the back of Lord Jabu-Jabu's mouth. He tried to cross quickly, but the floor kept moving beneath him so that it took at least three minutes to make his way to the throat.

A sudden jolt flung him onto his stomach. It was then he realized that what he had been standing on the whole time was Jabu-Jabu's _tongue._

"Don't try to fight it," said Navi. "Just try to land in one piece!"

Link tried to answer her, but a scream came out instead as he slid from the edge of the tongue and fell into the esophagus. Even the slightest attempt to stay his momentum only made things worse as he joined the train of food and fluids on its way from the mouth to the stomach.

When he finally lurched out of the esophagus, there was a terrible moment when he flailed in midair with nothing to hold onto. Then he dropped, disappearing beneath an ocean of stomach acid.

A garbled voice assailed him from somewhere nearby. "Ggh eff my yew imbisle! Ime triing too ged too dee sir fiss!"

Link caught the word "surface" and decided it wasn't a bad idea. Thrashing his way through the acid, he broke into the clean air—or what passed for it—and spat out half a pint of Jabu-Jabu's digestive fluids.

Seconds later, another head joined his above the surface, and Link knew, even without a description, that this was Princess Ruto.

"Are you deaf? I told you to get off—you landed right in my face!"

Link bobbed in the acid, eyeing the spout on the left side of Ruto's head. "Nice to meet you, too. I'm Link. This is Navi. You're Princess Ruto."

"Of course I'm Princess Ruto, you dolt!" The princess scowled at him. Imagine, a human peasant introducing himself to _her,_ the future Queen of the Zoras! "Who else would I be?"

_I wish you were Princess Zelda, _he wanted to say, but Link swallowed his ire and forced a smile. "Your father's worried about you. I have to get you out of here."

"I'm perfectly capable of finding my own way out, thank you." Ruto harrumphed. "Besides, who said I wanted to leave?"

Navi squealed. "You mean you want to _stay?"_

"Look," Link said. "We didn't have to come for you. If this is the way you want to be, we might as well leave and save ourselves the trouble of arguing." Trying to hide the grin on his face, he dove beneath the surface and swam away from her, hoping he had judged her response correctly.

"Wait, don't go!"

Link counted to three before surfacing again. "Did you say something?"

"Please." Ruto lowered her head. "I know a way out, but before I agree to leave, you have to help me find something important."

Despite his curiosity, Link tried to appear indifferent. _Something important…like a Spiritual Stone?_

"How do we know what to look for?" said Navi.

"You'll know it when you see it," Ruto hissed.

"Wait," Link said. "How did you get in here to begin with?"

"How do you think? Lord Jabu-Jabu swallowed me when I tried to feed him this morning. That's how I lost my stone, too; I was wearing it when I came to the altar."

Link's heart beat faster at the mention of a stone. "Wouldn't it be easier to look for it somewhere else? I mean, everything here has to leave the stomach eventually. Otherwise, we'll have to swim to find it. I don't know about you, but I don't want to swim through _this."_

Ruto made a face. "So you're suggesting we wait here for Lord Jabu-Jabu's stomach to empty itself? By then, we'll be digested. That's stupid."

Link drew his sword so quickly that both of his companions jerked in surprise. With a quick stabbing motion, he pointed to the wall of the stomach. _"This_ is what I'm suggesting."

* * *

The instant Link's blade poked the lining of Jabu-Jabu's stomach, the walls contracted so fiercely that the acid rose several feet, almost to the esophagus. He and Ruto, already immersed, simply rose along with the tide. Navi, on the other hand, was forced to cling to Link's shoulders to avoid being drowned.

Ruto, hardly knowing what she was doing, had seized Link's left arm. "Now what?"

Almost as soon as the words left her mouth, a stream of bubbles erupted from a hole near the bottom of the stomach. It was too dark for them to _see_ the hole, of course, but they certainly felt the suction pulling them under the surface.

Link held his breath as he went under, but he dared not open his eyes. Ruto, ignoring any danger from the corrosive fluid, groped for her lost stone with eyes wide open.

The current swept them out of the stomach, along a tube with soggy feelers that brushed Link's skin, sending chills through his body and giving him all the more reason to keep his eyes closed until the dreadful ride had ended.

They splattered onto solid ground almost two minutes later, sucking in the air of the chamber they had fallen into. Aside from a few shallow puddles, things seemed largely dry here.

The smell of blood and burnt flesh wafted into Link's nostrils, threatening to choke him. He found his sword, slick with moisture and flecks of food, lying nearby.

"Navi? Princess Ruto?"

"Here." Ruto waddled into sight, clutching something shiny in her right hand.

He frowned. "Did you see Navi?"

At that moment, the fairy burst from the tube above them, drenching both in fresh digestive fluids.

"Link, you're alright!" Navi locked her tiny arms around the curve of his left hip.

"Thank goodness." Link wrung the fluid from his tunic with a smirk. "I thought I'd lost you. No more 'hey, listen'!"

"Quiet!" Navi pinched his nose.

"If you two are finished, _I'd like to get out of here now!"_ Ruto glared from the shadows.

Link's gaze flickered from her face to the jewel in her hand. "I promised your father I'd bring you back."

"Then hurry up and _do_ it!"

Link stiffened, but before he could say anything, a loud squish distracted him. He looked down to find his leather pouch squashed beneath the toe of his right boot.

"Is this yours?" Ruto held out a wet lump of parchment: one of Zelda's letters.

Link snatched the letter from her hand and bent over to recover the pouch. Just as he had reattached it to his belt, he froze. "What was that?"

_Biri._

Ruto's brow furrowed. "What was what?"

_Biri._

Suddenly, Link pedaled back, waving his sword at the darkness. "Get down!"

"Why should I listen to—?"

A flash of light cut the princess's words short. Just ahead, three jellyfish hovered in midair, their tentacles dangling and snapping with live electricity. One of them swooped towards Ruto.

Without thinking, Link rushed forward.

Navi squeaked. "Wait!"

Link hacked the jellyfish's umbrella with his sword and received a vicious jolt for his trouble. The current slashed through his body, catching Ruto and Navi in the process. Another jellyfish drifted close, but the jolt from the first one had paralyzed him so that he could only watch as the other approached.

_Bari._

The first flash had only begun to fade when twin streaks of lightning struck the two remaining jellyfish. Rather than disappear, these bolts lingered like cords fixed to the heads of each jellyfish. Once attached, the cords started to spin in a circle around the room, dragging the jellyfish along with them and thus creating a perimeter of dangerous electricity.

Link recovered his mobility in time to shove Ruto away from the spinning jellyfish as they came around for their second circuit. Straining to be heard over the sizzle and pop of the electricity, he shouted at Navi, "Find out what they're protecting!"

Navi flew to the center of the room without a word, returning moments later in a fit of excitement. "I think…I think it's his heart!"

"Lord Jabu-Jabu's heart?"

"I think so, but it looks funny!"

Link glanced from Ruto to the center of the room and back again—and made his decision. Leaving her, he advanced to the center of the room, keeping his sword low to avoid striking another jellyfish as he slipped inside their perimeter.

All at once, he saw the god's heart beating in the shadows, swollen with the curse Ganondorf had laid on it. Covered with boils, parasitic beetles, and clusters of dried blood, the organ struggled to pump life to its host against impossible odds.

"Look!" Navi fluttered beside the veins and arteries connecting the heart to the chamber's ceiling. A round disc of flesh, oddly out of place amidst the tangle of blood vessels, smoldered as it held the lightning bolts connected to the jellyfish in place.

Link pressed his lips together. _Can't risk hitting the heart, but doing nothing is worse._ Pulling his left arm back, he hurled his blade upwards, slicing through the disc of flesh. A few severed veins spurted over the rest of the heart, but the sword fell back to the ground without any significant harm to the god's life.

The lightning bolts dissolved in smoke, releasing the jellyfish. Both creatures immediately pounced on Princess Ruto, stinging her multiple times. Link made as if to rush to her aid but hesitated when he considered the horde of beetles chewing at the membrane around Jabu-Jabu's heart. It was _possible_ the god could survive boils; the insects were another matter. He _had_ to find a way to get them off. Now.

He bit his lip, knowing what he was about to do would be _very _painful. "Follow me!"

"What now?" Navi chirped her alarm but followed swiftly after.

It took them a full minute to distract the jellyfish. When they finally succeeded, Link trotted just out of their reach until he had led them to within a meter of Jabu-Jabu's heart. By then, sweat poured from his forehead, and he had clenched the hilt of his sword with both hands until the knuckles turned white.

_I hope this works._ When the sparks from their tentacles began to scorch the hair on his arms, Link rolled beneath the nearest of the two jellyfish and speared it through with his sword, clapping his teeth against the jolt.

This time, the shock almost knocked him unconscious. Every nerve burned with fire as the current passed through his system, but what it did to the insects plaguing Jabu-Jabu was far more deadly. The combined electricity from Link's body and the jellyfish's tentacles leapt to the membrane of the heart, cooking most of the beetles instantly. Others, sensing a threat, tried to scuttle away from the danger and were charred to a crisp.

As a spasm shook the god's heart, Link feared his impulse had backfired. The one remaining jellyfish had strayed into the path of the electricity rolling off his body and was not faring well, but then neither was he—and more importantly, neither was Lord Jabu-Jabu.

In the back of his consciousness, he felt someone pulling him away, away from the dying jellyfish and away from danger. _Ruto?_

"What kind of man are you? It took you long enough to rescue me from those jellyfish!"

"Sorry," he mumbled.

"Link?" The spot that was Navi floated somewhere in the haze that was his field of vision. "Don't ever do something like that again."

"Let's get out of here." Ruto coughed to disguise the tremor in her voice. "We've wasted enough time already."

Link was about to ask how she planned on leaving when a gush of water suddenly flooded the chamber, lifting them off their feet and bearing them away with the carcasses of the beetles and the jellyfish. He had his answer.

* * *

**I meant to post the Zora's Domain chapters earlier in the week, but those of you who have attended major cons like Gen Con know how hard it can be to readjust to the routine of everyday life after letting your freak flag fly. Needless to say, my sixth Gen Con was a blast. Saw some GREAT cosplay as always, including at least three Princess Zeldas and approximately one Link for every time the average player hears Navi shouting "Hey, listen" in an average play-through of OOT. In other words, I saw a LOT of Links.**

**Check my profile for the link (pun intended) to my Facebook album if you're interested in a pictorial journey through Gen Con 2012. I still plan to keep releasing my chapters about once a week. May the way of the Hero...you know the rest.**


	19. A Dream Becomes Reality

Chapter 18: A Dream Becomes Reality

Link struck the surface of the water and sank to the bottom in a flurry of bubbles. The fury with which Lord Jabu-Jabu had expelled them from his body convinced him that the god's natural defenses had kicked in at last.

Of course, it was hard to rejoice in that when he couldn't breathe. Only when he broke the surface and sucked in the air did he take time to collect his thoughts.

Unfortunately, he failed to notice the tree root sticking out of the water until his skull found it with a sharp crack. When he had recovered, he grabbed onto the root and climbed from the water to rest, panting.

He didn't rest for long. Hot breath on his neck made him aware he was not alone. He shot to his feet so quickly that he lost his balance and fell back into the water. Ruto giggled as she watched him float back to the surface again.

"You know," she said, "you were braver than I thought back there."

Link said nothing. _Where's Navi when I need her?_

Diving in after him, the Zora Princess swam right up in his face. "Tell me what you want, and I will make sure it is given to you." Her words spilled over themselves. "If you want money, my father will be glad to reward the man who saved my life. Anything you ask is yours for the taking."

She was so close that he had trouble hiding the red in his cheeks. "The stone you were looking for. Could I see it again?"

She blinked, surprised, then shrugged and held out the jewel he'd helped her recover from Lord Jabu-Jabu's stomach. "This?"

Link examined the stone until he was certain. Not only was it roughly the same size as the first two Spiritual Stones, but the color of the three sapphires making up the larger stone had the same richness as the Kokiri Emerald and the Goron Ruby.

He nodded quickly. _"That's_ what I want."

"Are you sure?"

He swallowed. "Yes." Something about the grin his answer planted on her face made him uncomfortable.

"Very well." She took his right hand and placed the Spiritual Stone in the palm. "My mother told me to give it only to the man who will be my husband." She blushed. "You might call it the Zora's Engagement Ring!"

This probably should have alarmed him, but instead he turned to Navi, who had finally found her way back to his side, and whispered, "Engagement Ring?"

If Ruto's humor had disturbed him, the titter in Navi's voice _terrified_ him. "I didn't know you were in a hurry to get married, Link!"

Link's face went white. "Married? Me?"

And then he fainted.

* * *

Zelda, Princess of Hyrule, leaned back against the headboard of her bed, engrossed in writing a letter. The inkpot sat on a small nightstand to her left; by instinct, she knew just when to dip the quill before it ran out.

Since the morning Link had departed, the need for distraction had seized her. After all, until he returned—_if _he returned—she would be trapped here, a prisoner of her birth, able to do little in assisting him.

She glanced up at the window behind her, frowning. Judging by her view from the battlements earlier that afternoon, the sky had been clear. Now it was darker than it had been in months.

Dark, like it had been in her dream.

_It means nothing. _She shook her head and dipped the pen, trying to ignore the sudden quiver in her hand.

Outside, thunder cracked, and she jumped. Ink plopped on the sheets, inches from her dress. She began to shake. _Nothing, it means nothing._

"Good evening, Princess."

She froze. _No. Not him. Not here, not now._

Ganondorf Dragmire glared at her from the foot of the bed, his arms folded at his chest, his cape flapping in the wind whipping through the open window. "You may finish the letter if you wish."

Her eyes ticked back and forth between the sword at his right hip and the look on his face. "You realize if my father finds out you were here, he'll break the treaty."

Ganondorf smiled. "There are two reasons that will never happen."

She took a breath and prayed a silent prayer to Din. "Yes?"

"One. You know I entered your room the night before the treaty was signed. You told your father, and he didn't believe I would have the audacity to do it."

She swallowed. "Even if that were true, there is nothing you or he can do to deny it this time."

Ignoring her, he began to draw his sword from its sheath. "The second reason. Your father is _dead_ and therefore unable to break our treaty."

"Imposs…" The denial died on her lips as his sword cleared its sheath. Blood—still wet—stained the end of the blade. _An animal's blood, or at worst a Knight's,_ she told herself._ He wouldn't dare strike my father._

Her thoughts raced. Where was Impa? Should she scream? Would it save her if she did?

Ganon's expression hardened. "Where is it?"

She lowered her head, tucking the quill out of sight. "I suggest you leave."

A growl built from the back of his throat. "How many must die before you realize I will have what I want whether you resist or not?"

She swept a hand towards the nightstand at her side. "Very well."

His gaze snapped on the drawer just below the top of the nightstand. Desire warped his features, but there was also suspicion. It was too easy. The Ocarina of Time was too valuable an object to be surrendered so quickly.

But she knew he would take the risk anyway.

"Your cowardice surprises me." As he pulled open the drawer, he laughed. "Even your father, fool as he was, gave a braver resistance at the end."

Her hand moved quicker than his mind could respond. Whipping the quill from beneath the sheets, she rammed it into his left cheek. Ganon screamed, even more from anger than pain, and threw the quill to the floor. Turning his attention back on the princess, he grabbed at her arm and yanked her off the bed.

The door flew open with a crash. In two seconds, Impa had taken stock of the situation and decided how to act. Drawing the knife at her right hip, she lunged at Ganondorf, forcing him to break his grip on Zelda's arm to fight her off.

"Princess, the window!"

Momentarily free from danger, Zelda yanked open the drawer of the nightstand and snatched up the Ocarina of Time. Tucking the instrument into her dress, she clapped her hands on the window sill and prepared to launch herself through.

With a curse, Ganon smashed his forehead into Impa's and swung at her neck with his sword. Instead of taking her head off, he only managed to sever one of the bedposts as she leapt past his left shoulder and dove through the window, taking Zelda with her.

And then they were falling away from the tower, two hundred feet above the ground, with nothing to stop them from dashing their bodies against the cobblestone below—or so it seemed.

Even though Zelda never closed her eyes, the fog was so thick it prevented her from seeing anyway. But she could hear well enough, and what she heard was the thunder of hooves on the road beneath.

Invoking the name of the goddess, Farore, Impa slowed their descent with a magical blast of wind and landed squarely in the saddle of a white horse with Zelda clinging to her waist.

"You knew we would have to escape!" Zelda shouted to be heard over the noise of the animal's gallop. "That's why you've been hiding food in the stables."

"Yes." Impa patted the horse's saddlebags. "There will be enough for a month if we are cautious."

Zelda's mouth hung open. "A month? How long do you expect to be in hiding?"

"Only the gods know, Princess."

"What of father? What of Link?"

"The King of Hyrule is dead. In my concern for our escape, I arrived too late to defend him from his assassin. As for Link…"

* * *

Long after Zora's Domain had faded in the distance, Link brooded on the consequences of gaining the third Spiritual Stone. Rescuing Princess Ruto from the belly of Jabu-Jabu seemed a small task in comparison with the oath she had made him swear before leaving: to return when his quest had ended and be joined to her in the traditional Zora fashion.

"I'll bet I know what _you're_ thinking about," Navi said.

He scowled. "I wanted to get out of there, back to the castle. I should have just stayed and explained why I needed the Stone to begin with."

"You did the right thing."

"Easy for you to say."

"Link?" Navi landed gently on his arm. "Are you alright?"

Suddenly, he had stopped. Something bothered him.

"What is it?"

His frown deepened. "I've been here before."

"But we just came this way with Malon and Tal—"

"No. I mean I was here, in a dream, the night Ganondorf cursed the Great Deku Tree."

They both gazed westward. In the distance, less than a mile away, Hyrule Castle Town stood majestic under a black curtain of thunderclouds. The drawbridge had been raised, though the day was still young and the meal he had shared with Malon and Talon recent enough to keep him from starving.

His left hand curled into a fist. "I think Zelda's in trouble."

"Wait!" Navi sped after him as he took off towards the city. "Be careful, Link!"

Ignoring her, he headed for the drawbridge, reaching it just as the heavens opened up to pour forth the fury of the gods…

* * *

Impa spurred the white horse on the final stretch of cobblestone leading up to the drawbridge. On their left, the door to the guardhouse was open. Two Gerudo women, their scimitars caked with the blood of the Knight on duty, rushed into the street and jumped in front of the horse.

"Impa…" Zelda's knuckles were turning white.

Steering the horse towards the guardhouse, Impa dropped from the saddle and hurled herself at the crank that turned the drawbridge.

Clearly, Ganondorf had planned his coupe well, but she wasn't about to yield her life or that of the Princess so soon.

After a screech of chains, the bridge began to lower in a steady rhythm…

* * *

Link stood back, sensing danger. The drawbridge groaned to a halt as it found the edge of the moat. Seconds later, a white horse barreled through the fog inside the city, nearly running him over.

Remembering the dream, he didn't have to look to know who rode that horse, but he looked anyway.

Their eyes met, and the strength of the feeling each saw in the other burned through the fear of the moment. Link realized how much Zelda's faith in him had meant when he had first set out to gain the Spiritual Stones, and she began to realize how much his faith in _her _had meant when even her father had refused to believe her dreams were true.

Freeing one arm from Impa's waist, the Princess fumbled with her dress until she had untangled the Ocarina of Time from an inner pocket.

"Be certain you are choosing the best course of action."

Zelda paused at Impa's words. "The Spiritual Stones will be useless without it."

"But is it safe for him to open the Door of Time alone?"

The Princess heaved a sigh, knowing the risks but confident that Din and her sisters would protect Link and give him the courage to finish the task. Thus resolved, she pulled back her arm and pitched the Ocarina towards the drawbridge.

Then she turned back to face the road ahead, renewing her grip on Impa's waist, even as she whispered a final prayer of safety for the fate of Link and of Hyrule itself.


	20. The Master Sword

Chapter 19: The Master Sword

_And so he handled the sword by the handles,  
__and lightly and fiercely pulled it out of the stone._

~Malory, _Le Morte D'Arthur_

* * *

Link stood rooted to the ground, his lungs crying for air. He had been holding his breath for a minute or more, ever since the drawbridge had fallen. Zelda, though gone with Impa, had left him a secret that was now floating in the moat.

He had a feeling he knew what that secret was, but at the moment, a black horse blocked his way into town, leaving him with few options. He took a deep breath and tried to calm his racing heart.

"You there." Ganon's fury at the escape of his prey had faded to a subtler anger lurking under the surface. "Where did the horse go that just passed by here? You must have seen it. Answer me!"

Basic fear flooded Link's body. His will to act wavered. He wanted to fight, and he wanted to run. Then he thought of Zelda.

The will to fight won out.

A feral grin crossed Ganon's face when the ring of a steel blade sliding from its scabbard broke the silence. "I like your attitude, boy."

Link waved the Kokiri Sword back and forth. "You'll like this, too." He dove at the legs of the black horse.

Ganon never blinked. His arm shot out, and a stream of electric energy leapt from his fist to Link's body, knocking the boy over and driving him back several feet.

"Link!" Navi dropped to his side.

Ganon craned his head back and laughed, then kicked his horse with a shout. The stallion neighed and took off at a gallop, following the general direction Impa had taken.

Link groaned and sat up. Every nerve tingled with the shock of Ganon's attack. "Impa? Zelda…?" His memory had suddenly clouded.

"They're gone," said Navi. "So is Ganon."

Link sheathed his sword and stood awkwardly to his feet. "She left the Ocarina, didn't she?"

"You'd better get it before the guards come."

"Guards?" Link, in his shock, hadn't considered any guards that might have observed the altercation. He turned and scuttled for the moat, throwing himself in. He found the Ocarina of Time.

Then his world disappeared in a blaze of white light.

* * *

_He had never been here before, but a silent voice inside him said that this was the Temple of Time. The ancient splendor in the air itself confirmed it, and the more he drank in the sights, the more he felt a part of the temple's hallowed legacy._

_Majestic stained glass windowpanes lined the walls on either side. Black and white tiles alternated like a chessboard on the floor as if hinting at a profound reality: that all the moves of Hyrule's history, for good or for evil, were played out here, in this shrine to a bygone age._

_Ahead, he saw the Triforce emblazoned on a pedestal identical to the one in the forest clearing where Saria had given him the Deku Shield. Beyond that lay an altar encased in marble, and in the marble were three depressions, each perfectly carved to the size and shape of one of the three Spiritual Stones._

_Zelda stood at the altar, her back to him as she began to speak softly. Even at this distance, he could hear her words as if they were whispered in his ear._

"_Link. I'm sorry I wasn't able to meet you personally."_

_Her voice lifted his spirits. He tried to approach the altar, but the floor stretched with every step, widening the distance between them._

"_My time is short, so please listen. I must go into hiding. Since I can't help you now, you must believe in the stories I shared with you in the courtyard. I entrust the Ocarina of Time to you, in hopes that you will use it to protect the Sacred Realm from Ganon."_

_He tried to speak, but the words drowned in the gap that separated them. Tears of frustration welled up in his eyes._

"_I leave you with this melody," she continued, "the final key you'll need to open the Door of Time."_

_She turned to face him, her eyes closed, her lips pressed up against the Ocarina of Time. Air passed from her lungs to a hole in the instrument's shell, and a ghostly melody seeped out. The notes were slow and somewhat melancholy, yet mystical, like a choir of monks in lament._

_She played the melody twice, and when she finished, she lowered the instrument and strode forward. The floor seemed to shift again, this time sliding him closer to the center of the temple, where she waited for him._

_Their hands interlocked._

"_Link," she whispered, boring into him with her words and her gaze. "I must leave you now, but I have faith that your courage will be enough to defeat Ganondorf's evil." She smiled a smile that warmed him inside and out. "Believe in yourself, but never forget what we owe to those who created us. They will be with you, even when I am not."_

_She gave him the Ocarina, and the temple began to fade._

"_Goodbye," she said. "I'll be waiting for you when you return."_

* * *

Instinct and Zelda's description of the city guided Link to the Temple of Time. He stopped in the courtyard leading to its doors just to breathe the air around it.

"I'm not ready for this," he said. "How will I know what to do when I open the Door of Time?"

"Maybe you won't have to know," Navi said.

Link craned his neck back for a better view. Above the door, a stone Triforce faced the courtyard as if guarding the temple from vandals. The east and west halves of the temple, so far as he could see, were symmetrical.

"Okay." He stepped up to the door, sure his strength would give out trying to pull it open. "What…?"

The door stood ajar, with just enough room for him to squeeze through.

"Be careful," said Navi.

He nodded and entered as quietly as possible. The interior of the temple matched what he had seen in his vision of Zelda almost perfectly: the black and white tiles, the altar, the stained glass windows, and the pedestal bearing the image of the Triforce.

Behind the altar, a short platform surrounded a square stone panel in the wall, with the image of a rising sun inscribed in the stone.

His breath caught. "The Door of Time…"

He plodded down the middle of the chessboard, drawn slowly but inexorably to the altar, Navi trailing at his shoulder.

_"I leave you with this melody, the final key you'll need to open the Door of Time."_

He reached for his soiled leather pouch and removed the first Spiritual Stone, the Kokiri Emerald or Stone of the Forest, his last gift from the Great Deku Tree. He placed it in the leftmost depression on the altar. Then he took the Spiritual Stone of Fire and placed it next to the Emerald, in the centermost depression.

His hand shook when he touched the third stone. _Zora's Engagement Ring?_

"Come on," said Navi. "Just put it in."

The Spiritual Stone of Water clinked in the rightmost depression. Link raised the Ocarina of Time to his mouth and played a faithful rendition of the song Zelda had taught him in his vision.

Stirred from eons of rest, the Temple of Time reacted. Bright rays of sunlight exploded from another stone Triforce tucked in the wall above the Door of Time. The Door itself shuddered, and a hairline fracture in the center that Link had failed to notice widened until the two parts of the Door had vanished in the wall to either side.

Ahead, something glinted in the light from an unseen window.

"Link." Navi's voice trailed off until she could bring herself to speak again. "Is that…can it be that legendary blade, the Master Sword?"

"I don't remember the Great Deku Tree ever talking about it." Link frowned, finally circling the altar and climbing the platform that faced the Door of Time. He peered at the inner chamber, squinting for a better look at the sword.

"Every fairy knows about the Master Sword," Navi said. "It was the last thing our goddess, Farore, created before she left Hyrule with her sisters."

"What's so special about it?"

"They say it's the last barrier between Hyrule and the Sacred Realm. Once it's taken from the stone, _anyone_ can enter the Sacred Realm."

Link stepped through the Door of Time and wandered into the Master Sword's sanctum. "Good thing Ganon's chasing Impa, then, instead of us?"

Navi squeaked. "If he had known back there that you had the Spiritual Stones _and_ the Ocarina of Time, he could have forced you to open the Door of Time and draw out the Master Sword without bothering Zelda."

"Couldn't he draw it out himself?"

"Only someone with a good heart can move the sword."

"How do you know _I've_ got a good heart?"

"The Great Deku Tree must have thought so, or he wouldn't have sent you."

By that time, they had a better view of the sanctum, a stone cavity with a fifty-foot ceiling and a single window that, at a certain time each day, allowed the sun to shine on the platform in the middle of the room, where the Master Sword waited in silence.

The sword stood perfectly straight, embedded in a block bearing yet another Triforce icon. Its blue hilt, set off by a crosspiece that curved to either side of the blade like a pair of wings, deftly balanced the weight of the blade itself.

Link reverently climbed the platform and extended his hands, holding them out until he had gathered the courage to touch the hilt. "Are you ready?"

"Are you?" said Navi.

"No."

"Great. Let's do it."

He closed his fists around the hilt and jerked upward. The blade slid out with little resistance, leaving its berth for the first time in untold centuries.

Blue fire engulfed the edge of the platform. Link stared at the reflections of the fire on the blade, then he turned his gaze on the ceiling as the fire rose up like a pillar and bled through the roof.

"That was a fine account, fairy," said a cold voice behind them. "If you're not smart enough to watch your back, at least you're well-versed in Hylian lore."

"Ganondorf!" Link spun around, struggling to raise the Master Sword.

Ganon's eyes danced with the eerie light of the flames as he drew his sword from the scabbard dangling at his waist. "Smart to lead me away from the city. Your princess almost kept me from my goal…but you needed the Ocarina of Time, didn't you? I knew she wouldn't have left without finding a way to get it to you."

Link's stomach turned at the thought of their horrible mistake. "I won't let you take it."

"You think that's what I was looking for?" Ganon smiled, looming over him like a god. "Thank you for clearing my path."

"No!" Navi placed herself between Link and Ganon, but the blade of Ganondorf Dragmire came down nonetheless.

Link tripped and fell back over the block that had once held the Master Sword, barely avoiding the lethal blow. "I can't lift it. I can't—"

A void of white light swallowed his protest, pulling the three of them into the flow of time, along the perilous path to the Sacred Realm.

* * *

**And with that, we come to the end of Part One. Most of you reading this will probably have played the game many times over, so I don't have to tell you why this is a major turning point in the story.**

**Please look forward to Part Two, the first few chapters of which I'll probably release this Saturday night (8/27/12). Expect things to get darker from here on out.**


	21. Link's Awakening

**Part Two: Hero of Time**

* * *

Chapter 20: Link's Awakening

_When light from the lost land shall return,  
__Six Sleepers shall ride, six Signs shall burn._

~Susan Cooper, _The Grey King_

* * *

_I no longer know who I am. It's as if I've been unconscious, and my mind has changed so much in the interim that I'm little more than a stranger to myself. The boy I was once is gone. Somehow, I know this, even without seeing physical evidence of it._

_ I dream, too, but the dreams are so many and so detailed that I feel I've gained a lifetime of memories in what, to me, seems like minutes._

_ Some of the dreams are familiar. They remind me of who and what I have loved and lost and fought for._

_ Especially her._

_ She is there in all my dreams. Her words ring through my head like continuous thunder. I cannot help but think of her, but will I ever see her again?_

_ The dreams have never answered that question._

* * *

_"Awaken. Awaken, Hero of Time, for the hour has come!"_

_ I've heard this voice in my dreams a thousand times. Now it's calling me to life._

_ "Hear me, Link! Hyrule needs you. You are the only one who can wield the blade of evil's bane!"_

_ Where is Navi, I wonder? Has she been with me all this time?_

_ "Wake up, Link!" _

_The familiar voice of my fairy finally convinces me to open my eyes._

_ And there he is, standing before me in a golden robe with long sleeves. His arms are draped at his sides, and his snow-white mustache covers his face. His presence is intimidating, thanks in part to his stout frame._

_ "Who are you?" I ask._

_ "I am Rauru, Sage of Light." His voice is distant, neither warm nor cold. "I have been watching over you these past seven years."_

_ Seven years._

_ Reality hits me like a backhanded slap. I've been asleep for seven years! The implications are staggering. I look at my hands, half suspecting the truth already, but still in shock when I note that my arms have thickened, growing several inches longer since the last time I saw them._

_What about the rest of me? _

_The glare of a bright light hitting a reflective surface draws my attention to the platform I'm standing on. The reflection on its deep blue face confirms the truth of what Rauru, Sage of Light, has just told me._

_ I am seven years older._

_ "Why?" My voice is deeper, fuller, not quite a man's voice, but not a child's voice, either. "Why so long?" And why at all, I wonder?_

_ "Think back to the time you first encountered him."_

_Before I can ask who "he" is, my mind goes back to the scene at the drawbridge, to the ease with which Ganondorf threw me aside. "He knew what we were planning."_

"_A child of your stature could never have wielded the Master Sword," says Rauru. "If I had brought you here a moment later than I did, he might have killed you."_

_ The sense of terror I felt when I found out Ganon had followed me to the Temple of Time returns. I quickly change the subject. "What happened while I was gone?"_

_Rauru's eyes continue to search mine as he speaks. "Seven years ago, Ganondorf violated the Sacred Realm and obtained the Triforce. With its power, he became the King of Evil, and Hyrule became a world of monsters."_

_ That's all the detail I get for now. "Where are we?"_

_ The glare in the room departs, and I can see past the edge of the platform. Dim spears of light trickle like rain in the endless void before me. No barrier prevents me from leaping to my death, if there is any solid surface beyond the one I stand on._

_ "We are at the very center of the Sacred Realm." Rauru makes his first gesture, slowly spreading his hands to either side. "This is the Chamber of Sages, built long ago within the Temple of Light."_

_ "Where are the other Sages?" The question comes out of nowhere, as if someone else, and not my own curiosity, suggested it._

_ "They too are asleep." Rauru's hands return to the folds of his robe. "Most of them believe they are ordinary citizens of Hyrule, but they are the last hope of a dying world, unaware of their destiny."_

_ "Who am I?" I say. "What's my part in all this?"_

_ Rauru's eyes narrow. "You must awaken the other five Sages."_

_ "Why can't you do it?"_

_ "I chose long ago to confine myself here, in the Sacred Realm. I cannot leave unless called upon by the Hero of Time."_

_ "I don't understand."_

_ With sudden force, the Sage's hands come out of his robe. He thrusts his arms to the sky, and a shrill clamor erupts in the silence. A golden disc comes spinning down from above, forcing me to catch it, lest it knock me senseless._

_ "What's this?" I ask, turning the disc over in my hands._

_ "It is a Medallion, one of six. You may use it only once, in dire need." Rauru's hands slip back into his robe. "Return to the Temple of Time and place it on the pedestal that bears the image of the Triforce, and I will come to your aid."_

_ Another glare slices my field of vision. Six smaller pedestals light up around the edges of the platform. One is yellow and lies just beneath Rauru's feet. The others are different colors. Each has a unique design engraved on its surface._

_ "Our time is short," Rauru says. "Awaken the Sages."_

_ "How will I find them?"_

_ "A voice from the past will guide you."_

_ The light is disappearing. The chamber itself dissolves into broken specters._

_ "Wait!" My voice echoes, falling back on my ears until it fades to nothing. "I still don't understand!"_

_ But Rauru is gone, and he cannot answer._

* * *

Link fell through an endless tunnel of fire, awash in his memories of the Sacred Realm and the dreams of a seven-year hiatus from the world of the living. A rainbow of colors swirled about like a river pulling him to the end of the tunnel, into the Temple of Time.

The light dissolved all at once, and as he stood there facing the block that had kept the Master Sword through all the ages of Hyrule, he sighed. It seemed but a moment since his hands had jerked the sword from its place, and yet if Rauru had spoken truly, he had slumbered through the better part of his youth.

"We're back," said Navi.

"Are we?" Link took stock of the inner chamber, looking for any changes in its physical structure. Finding none, he turned, an action that woke his numb arms so that he finally noticed the weight in his left hand.

This time, he lifted the hilt of the Master Sword as if it weighed no more than a Deku Stick.

"So much has changed," he said, a hint of awe creeping into his voice.

"More than you will ever realize."

Both Link and Navi whirled to face the Door of Time. A boy, no more than a year younger than Link, stood in the doorway, staring out at them from the folds of a short turban. A tight blue fabric covered most of his body, highlighting a slender physique.

The boy's resemblance to Impa impressed Link. "You…you're…"

"A Sheikah." The boy nodded slightly, while his eyes flickered up and down as if examining Link. "My name is Sheik."

Link noted the emblem on the boy's chest, a crimson eye with a teardrop—or a drop of blood—dangling from the bottom. "You were waiting for me?"

"It was agreed that I should guide you."

"I don't even know who you are."

Sheik raised an eyebrow. "Were I a servant of Ganondorf, I would waste little time in bringing you before my master. Since I am not, you would do well to heed my advice."

Link traded glances with Navi. "Where do I go from here?"

Sheik took a step backward. "'When evil rules all, an awakening voice from the Sacred Realm will call those destined to become Sages, those who dwell in the five temples.' This is a prophecy from the Book of Mudora, an ancient text of the Royal Family."

"I thought..." Link shook his head. "I thought the Sages were ordinary people. How can they live in temples?"

"The Sage's power is concentrated there. In times of peace, that power protects the area surrounding the temple, no matter how far the Sage strays from that area. However, in times of war or great evil, that power fades, and the Sages lose their identity. In order to restore the Six to their place, the temples must be purged by someone who remains unaffected by the evil."

Navi squeaked. "Someone like us?"

Link nodded. "How do we find them?"

Sheik narrowed his eyes, like Rauru. "First, you will return to your childhood home in Kokiri Forest. A temple is hidden deep in the woods there. As for the other temples, you need not concern yourself with their locations until you have purged the forest."

"Is that all?"

"You will need a shield."

Link was about to ask where Sheik expected him to get one when the boy pointed to the floor just behind him. Bending down, Link picked up a shield forged of iron and illustrated with colorful symbols, including a red bird of prey and one other image he recognized: the Triforce.

"I have kept it safe here since its last bearer was slain," Sheik said. "It once belonged to the King of Hyrule."

Link had been strapping the shield to his right arm, but when Sheik said this, he paused. "The _King?_ Zelda's father?"

"Do not be ashamed to wear it. Who better to protect the legacy of the Royal Family than you, Link?"

Link frowned. Many questions, few of which had been answered, troubled him. For instance, where was Zelda? Just knowing she was alive would have bolstered his resolve to find the Sages.

But he never got the chance to ask. Even as he mulled over what he had learned from Sheik and Rauru, he saw Sheik finger a small nut between thumb and forefinger, raise it up, and fling it to the ground.

A flash of light stung his eyes. Beside him, Navi wobbled dizzily in midair.

"Sheik!" Link struggled to regain his sight for half a minute. Smoke curled around his ankles and drifted into his nostrils. But he already knew what had happened.

Sheik was gone.


	22. Aftermath

Chapter 21: Aftermath

_How she sits alone,  
__the city once crowded with people!  
__She who was great among the nations  
__has become like a widow._

~Lamentations 1:1

* * *

By unspoken consent, Link and Navi left the Temple of Time without discussing what they had learned. That would come later. Something in Sheik's words—or in Rauru's tone of voice, perhaps—had struck them both with a sense of urgency. They had to get out of there to find out what had happened for themselves.

"Oh…" Link stopped before he reached the town square, unable to go further without absorbing the sight before him.

The ruins of Hyrule Castle Town spread for miles. Bricks, beams, and the burned-out frames of buildings made up the greater part of it. Scorch marks, broken swords and arrows, and even streaks of blood gave evidence of what had passed before the city fell.

_Ganondorf. _Link bowed his head, mourning the death of thousands._ Why? What threat did these people pose to you?_

* * *

_"Captain."_

_ Arswaine turned to the Knight beside him. "What is it?"_

_ "Permission to fire, sir."_

_Arswaine shook his head. "It is what they expect."_

_The Gerudo army had come to a halt less than a hundred meters from the city. Some had drawn their swords, but most remained unarmed. The stalemate had already lasted an hour, and now the bravery of the Knights of Hyrule began to give way to impatience. It was said the King had been felled by Ganondorf himself, and that was enough to kindle old fears and hatreds._

_ Muttered curses rippled along the battlements when Ganon himself finally appeared at the head of his army. Arswaine waved the archers back, but the men moved reluctantly, their desire for vengeance clearly stronger than their good sense._

_ From the plain below the city, Ganondorf Dragmire smiled and raised his voice so that all could hear. "Men of Hyrule. You believe your King is dead. This was never true. A traitor lies in his own blood, slain for pretending to the crown. Your true King has come to accept his throne and your allegiance!"_

_ This created some confusion, but only for a moment. When Ganondorf raised the golden crown of Hyrule—still crusted with the King's blood—to his own head, the murmur on the walls became a roar._

_ "Stand down!" Arswaine shouted over the twang of bowstrings, but the men had already lost control._

_ Arrows rained down by the hundreds, all aimed at a single target. Any one of those shafts might have torn a lung, pierced a chamber in the heart, or nailed Ganondorf's windpipe to his spine, but any shaft that came close simply vanished as if it had never existed. In a single fit of passion, the Knights had spent a third of their supply of arrows, making their defeat that much more inevitable._

_ Once more, Ganondorf smiled. Beckoning for his mount, he climbed into the saddle and raised the back of his hand towards the drawbridge. His skin began to glow with a strange gold light._

_ Arswaine was almost certain he could make out a familiar shape in that light, the shape of a sacred relic whose image the Knights bore on their shields: the Triforce. Indeed, the three triangles appeared to be _embedded_ in Ganondorf's hand._

_ Yet before any could wonder at the miracle of this newfound power, another light sprang from Ganondorf's body, snapping the drawbridge in two large pieces that collapsed in the moat._

_ The black horse reared and charged the gate, leaping over the moat beneath the gaze of the Knights and into the unwary city, where the evening rush at market had just begun to wind down._

* * *

Time crept by as Link tearfully explored the ruins of Hyrule Castle Town seven years later. The ghosts of the dead assailed him at every corner. Though they never appeared visibly or spoke in a literal voice, their memory remained as true as the long-gone reality.

He longed to return to the past, to fight beside the Knights of Hyrule in defense of the innocent whose blood still colored the silent streets. But nothing could change what had passed here. Going back would only endanger his life and betray what he and Zelda had fought for.

"Navi?"

The fairy moved in closer, her tiny body glowing amidst the wreckage, defying the gloom.

"I know I should have said this a long time ago." He turned his head away to hide the expression on his face. "I don't know how or why the Great Deku Tree chose you as my partner, but I'm glad you're here with me."

"Thanks, Link."

"You're the only real comfort I have," he said.

* * *

_The little girl held her father's hand as he moved through the crowded market and talked with the other adults. She loved coming here to see all the people, especially the merchants with their colorful wares. She felt safe here, as long as her daddy was with her._

_ But today was different. Today, her father had wanted to leave her at home. "There are other people who live outside our city," he had said, "people who don't like us, and they want to hurt us. You'll be safer at home with your mother."_

_ She had cried until he gave in, but now she wanted to go home. She was afraid, even though he was with her._

_ "It's okay," he said to her now. "Here. I bought this for you."_

_ He gave her a blanket with something warm inside it. She let go of his hand to take it, and when she unfolded the sheets, she forgot how afraid she was._

_ It was a puppy._

* * *

Bodies. Bodies everywhere. Even after seven years of decay.

They had no flesh, of course. Only bones. But even the bones could speak.

"So many." Link stepped over a pair of skulls, brushing aside a cobweb with the toe of his boot. "Did any escape?"

Navi flew low to the ground, her wings moving sluggishly as if weighed down by the atmosphere of the place. "It looks like they decided to leave the market open, even after they found out the Gerudos were coming. I guess they thought they were safe."

Link started to reply, but a skull slouched in the debris by Navi distracted him. He bent to one knee and gently picked it up. The empty sockets peered back at him, their eternal gaze a burden on his memory forever.

"So small," he said. "Could he find no mercy, even for a child?"

* * *

_Ganondorf blurred past the guardhouse, mad in his search for the vein where Hyrule's innocence flowed. His first target had to be perfect: something pure and undefiled. Something that would kindle his hatred of the Hylians to greater heights._

_ He found her in the market square. The little girl with the puppy, still holding her father's hand. Something in him recognized her, for she was the same child he would have trampled the day he came to close his treaty with the King of Hyrule, had the boy from the forest not intervened. _

_Ignoring all else, he spurred his horse forward, scattering the panicked townsfolk._

_ The father turned just in time to watch Ganon's sword come down. His little girl's hand went limp, and she fell without a sound. The puppy dropped from her arms with a whimper, curling up on the pitiless cobblestone._

_ "No!" The father's heart refused to believe his eyes. He felt his mouth open, and he heard the primal scream that left it, but nothing his senses could tell him would convince him his daughter lay bleeding her life out here, on the streets._

"_Daddy," she said, her voice a ragged whisper above the rage of battle._

"_What is it, sweetheart?" He nearly choked on the words._

"_Daddy…" she said again, the whisper growing fainter. "Thank you for the puppy." Her last words._

_The father closed his eyes. He knew other children would die that day, anyway, but if he could have traded their lives for his daughter's, he would have done so in a heartbeat._

"_You're welcome, sweetheart."_

* * *

A low moan snapped Link from his daydream of the child whose skull he had found in the debris. He put the skull down as gingerly as possible and drew the Master Sword.

"What _was_ that?" The sound had lifted the hairs on his arm and neck. Another moan, deeper than the first, followed from the same general direction.

He brought out his shield. The gloom made it difficult to be certain, but he thought he saw something lumbering at him through the haze at the south edge of the square.

At first glance, it appeared to be a man, but the similarities ended quickly the more he saw of it.

It had once been a man, he realized, but where its face should have been, a mask carved from rotten oak glared down at him, its eye sockets black like a moonless night. Below that, its body was a nightmare of exposed muscle and bone, all of it tinted brown like the air.

Link dared to step closer. _Who were you? You must have had a family. Did you have a wife, maybe? A child?_ Anger colored his vision red. _Did Ganon do this to you?_

The zombie held his gaze for several minutes as if deciding how to react. And then it attacked, so swiftly that Link barely had time to deflect its teeth with his shield. When it tried to grab his head, he ducked below its waist and stabbed upward with the Master Sword.

The sword tore through the zombie's ribcage and out through its back, but not a single drop of blood had stained the blade. Stunned, Link tried to withdraw the blade, but the zombie bit his arm. He flinched, kicked out at its chest to remove the sword, and swung at its neck. The head flew free of the zombie's shoulders.

Bile rose in Link's throat, along with sorrow for the man that had once been. He swallowed both and fled from the hellish city, praying he had seen the worst of the damage inflicted on Hyrule by Ganon and his armies, though fearing he had only seen the beginning.

* * *

**As promised in the postscript to Chapters 18 and 19, things are beginning to take a darker turn here. I'm sorry to say that we won't see Link swimming in the digestive juices of giant whale gods for a while.**

**Expect to see some of the plot threads coming full circle over the next several chapters. As much as I enjoyed writing the adventures of Link's childhood, seeing his relationships with friends and enemies mature and reach fruition is even more satisfying, to me at least, than those initial steps.**

**I hope you'll agree!**


	23. Nature Corrupted

Chapter 22: Nature Corrupted

_There's nothing half so pleasant as coming home again._

~Margaret Elizabeth Sangster

* * *

Link made the trek from the city to Kokiri Forest in well under an hour. What he had seen in his short time as a young adult had done little to encourage a belief that Ganondorf could be defeated now that he had gained the Triforce. Secretly, in spite of Rauru's assurances, he put the same faith in the Sages he had put in himself ever since his pathetic encounter with Ganon on the drawbridge.

_So much has changed._ As he climbed the peak of the last hill leading down into the woods, he stroked the hilt of the Master Sword to calm his nerves. _Is there anything left to save?_

The first sign that something was wrong greeted him on the bridge where he had left his friend Saria standing alone the day he left: silence, complete and profound.

There were no birds singing. No leaves crunching or branches blowing in the wind. No children laughing, playing, or even arguing.

Kokiri Forest was as dead as its guardian, the Great Deku Tree.

In the village where Link had spent his childhood, weeds had choked the grass throughout the clearing. As for the houses themselves, in the few cases where vines had failed to conceal the damage, the tooth and claw marks of wolves ravaged the bark. Some trees had fallen over, blocking the source of the pond at the far end of the clearing and stagnating the water.

"Where is everyone?" Though Navi kept her voice low, it still sounded loud in that environment. In any case, Link refused to answer her question, especially when they found what remained of Saria's house.

Another tree had smashed down through the roof, crushing everything inside. The only reason Link knew it was _her_ house was because of where it had stood in the clearing.

He snarled and jabbed his sword in the ground, leaving it to wobble back and forth as he approached the wreckage. Hurling pieces of the house aside, he dug for any sign of his friend's body, even as he prayed he wouldn't find it.

How long he searched, it was impossible to tell. What he did know was that the first sound he noticed other than that of his own breathing was the cry of a wolf in the distance. That sound, combined with the sense of helplessness that had been plaguing him, woke him out of his trance and into a state of rage.

He sprinted for the Master Sword, but the first wolf had charged past the weapon and was already leaping for his throat. In a fever, he snatched up his old Kokiri Sword—scarcely half the length of his arm now—and drove it through the monster's heart.

With a careless regard for his own life, he kept the Kokiri Sword in his right hand and took up the Master Sword in his left as the rest of the wolves caught up with their leader. Fueled by his passions, he _became_ the Master Sword.

In an effort to flank him, the wolves had split into two columns. The first pair came in close on either side, probably to intimidate him, yet before they could pass, he whipped the two blades forward in a scissor cut that left one wolf headless and the other bleeding from the stump of a severed foreleg.

Then the four remaining wolves overtook him.

One knocked him onto his back. Another snapped its jaws shut where his arm had been a moment before. A third tried to claw at his right knee, but the Master Sword skewered its throat.

Link tucked his knees to his chest and kicked the first wolf off. Then he rolled away to avoid a swipe from another wolf. The third wolf backed away, growling, a mistake that allowed him to pin it to the ground by stabbing down through the back of its neck with the Kokiri Sword until the point had firmly buried itself in the mud.

The survivors fled howling.

Link sprawled on his stomach, covered in sweat and blood and fur. The rage had satisfied his need to react, but Saria was still gone. The bloodshed had failed to bring her back.

_What if they're _all_ dead?_

He thought of Zelda and Malon. He thought of Talon, Ruto, and the nameless child whose skull he had found in the ruins of Hyrule Castle Town. He thought of the Kokiri and the Great Deku Tree.

_Even if some are alive, I can't save them all. I can't even save myself._

Crawling to his feet, he tugged the Kokiri Sword from the dead wolf's neck with a groan. Returning both swords to their sheaths, he leaned against a tree to settle his nerves.

Navi hovered at his side. "Link, we have to find the temple."

"I know." He shook his head. "But I need to know something first."

"How do you know where to look for her?"

There was no need to mention Saria's name. The memory of his last birthday party, of the night she had given him the Deku Shield, came back to Link as fresh as yesterday.

"There's only one place she could be," he said.

* * *

After the wolves fled, nothing else prevented Link from reaching the place where Saria had carried him the night of his twelfth birthday. Silence still lingered in the forest, undisrupted by Navi or himself until they neared the clearing.

Through the trees, they heard a snort and the soft rustling of leaves. Putting a finger to his lips, Link motioned for Navi to make a sweep of the area.

The fairy returned seconds later in a tizzy of excitement. "It's Mido!"

Mido.

For a moment, Link was in the past, remembering the insults, the blunt contempt for his very existence. At first, he was tempted to burst through the trees and grab Mido by the scruff of the neck. Even now, the words stung like a scar that had never really healed.

But then he realized what _all _the Kokiri must have suffered after losing their homes, their friends, and the Great Deku Tree.

"What are you going to do?" said Navi.

Link shrugged. "Say hello, I guess." He pushed through the fronds.

Mido saw him instantly. "Who…?"

Instead of a direct answer, Link reached for the Ocarina of Time and played the song Saria had taught him on the bridge seven years ago.

Mido hid his surprise behind a scowl. "That song. She used to play it all the time."

Link put the Ocarina back in its pouch and looked at his old rival. Physically, nothing about Mido had changed. His attitude, on the other hand, was that of an animal wary of being chased by predators.

"You're too old to be a Kokiri." Mido pointed at Link's chest. "Still, those clothes…" Recognition dawned when he saw the fairy peeking from behind the stranger's back. His breath hissed through his teeth. "Link?"

Link knelt until he and Mido could see eye-to-eye. "Mido, I…"

Mido spat. "If it _is_ you, you're an idiot."

The suddenness of Mido's anger took him aback. "What?"

"You left her without saying goodbye."

Link flinched. "I know. I've regretted that ever since."

"You should."

"Is she alive?"

Mido clenched his teeth. "I don't know."

"When did you see her last?"

"A few days ago." Mido fixed his eyes on the ground. "She made me promise to guard the clearing for her until she came back."

"Why didn't you go after her?"

"I just told you. She made me promise to stay here!"

Link scowled. Only the thought that Saria would have told him not to stopped him from throttling Mido then and there. "Stay here and rot then. I'm going to find her."

"Hold it." Mido blocked his path. "She told me not to let _anyone_ through."

Link seized a fistful of Mido's tunic and hurled him into the bushes. "You're _not_ letting me through. _I'm _letting me through."

* * *

Link remained motionless, spellbound by the memory of that night, of the shield Saria had given him and her tender care of his wounds. Here, little had changed. The clouds obscured the sun, a subtle reminder of evil in the larger world—but the stump and the stone wall concealed in the overgrowth remained the same.

"I can't believe I never realized it." Staring at the ruins, he bit his lip. "This _is _the Forest Temple."

"Your sense of direction is impressive."

The voice jolted him out of his reverie. He spoke without turning. "I'd rather have your sense of stealth."

The boy, Sheik, made no reply. Link slowly turned to face him.

"Why are you following us?"

Sheik's eyes narrowed. "You have forgotten? I was sent as a guide."

"Then why sneak around? Besides, you already told me what I'm supposed to do."

"A guide at one's shoulder cannot spy a threat on the horizon, but a shadow sees what lies ahead _and_ what approaches from behind."

"Fine. I can accept that."

"But there are things you find difficult to accept?"

"What do you mean?"

"You slumbered seven years and woke to find the Hyrule you knew gone." Sheik's face reflected an empathy beyond mere words. "The flow of time is always cruel, and often its speed seems different for each person. But few will ever experience the passage of time as you have."

Link nodded. "I've lost…much. Everything has changed."

"Not everything." Sheik stepped forward, holding his arms at his sides. "There are those things that do not change with time. A memory of younger days. The memory of a dear friend." So saying, he brought forth a golden stringed instrument that had been strapped to his back.

Link held his breath. The harp rivaled any relic he had glimpsed in Hyrule Castle. Without prompting, he lifted the Ocarina of Time to his mouth and joined in as Sheik began to pluck the harp's strings.

They played for more than ten minutes, repeating the same refrain many times over. By the time they stopped, Link had mastered it.

Sheik calmly lowered the harp. "That was the Minuet of Forest, a melody long used to evoke the life of the Kokiri."

Link stared at the Ocarina. "It felt strange…like the song was pulling me somewhere."

"The Minuet of Forest is one of several songs composed by the goddess Nayru and her sister, Farore," Sheik said. "Play it on the Ocarina of Time, and you will be brought back to this clearing instantly."

The boy began reaching for another object at his side that Link had somehow failed to notice. From the spike in the front of it and the trigger at the back, he guessed it was a weapon.

Sheik held the object in both hands, one palm under the spike, the other under the handle. "In Gerudo Valley, it is said there were four peasant girls seduced into Ganondorf's service who were slain and then cursed to guard this temple when he conquered Hyrule. You may encounter their spirits ahead; if so, this Hookshot—a tool my people used for centuries—will prove useful."

Link gripped the contraption by the handle. "I'll keep that in mind."

Sheik turned away without a word, his hand sliding to his waist, but Navi's shrill voice interrupted him.

"_Now_ what are you doing?"

Sheik ignored the question. "I will see you again, Link."

Link started to protest, but whatever words he said were drowned out by the flash of a Deku Nut and the smoke of it coiling through the grass. On the ground, the broken husk rolled to a stop, but no sign of the boy who had thrown it remained.

* * *

"Let's see how this thing works, then."

Link shoved off from the stump and eyed the Forest Temple's surroundings, searching for a suitable target on which to test the Hookshot.

"Are you sure about this?" said Navi.

Link closed one eye and aimed at a tree with branches overhanging the temple's roof. When he pulled the trigger, the spike tore across the gap between himself and the tree, dragging a spring-loaded chain behind it. _Like a rope made of metal,_ he thought. The spike gored through the branch, securing its place with a sharp click.

He smiled, still holding the Hookshot's handle but assuming it was finished. Naturally, he was caught unawares when the chain grew taut, yanked him off his feet, and reeled him into the air on a rapid collision course with the branch.

His forehead bounced off the hard wood, flipping him upside down with one hand stubbornly attached to the Hookshot. Swooning, he pressed the trigger again, and the spike came loose from the branch. Unable to kill his momentum, he tumbled through a hole—or a door, it was hard to tell which—in the temple's roof.

He finally slowed when he hit his head on something hard. Something cold. Something that growled.

Navi squealed. "Watch out, Link!"

The Skulltula dropped to the floor to face him.


	24. The Forest Temple

Chapter 23: The Forest Temple

A flood of childhood nightmares, coupled with the dizziness of a rough landing, slowed Link's defenses when the Skulltula attacked. From the corner of his eye, he could see its legs bustle as it slid down a thin strand of webbing and hung there in front of him. Farther yet, a pair of candles lit the narrow hall.

"Watch out, Link!"

He heard Navi squeak, but his legs refused to obey him. Fear and fatigue had paralyzed his arms. Even his mind barely had the strength to function.

But that was enough.

His eyes locked on the Master Sword, thrown out of his reach in the fall—behind the spider's body. Willing his limbs to move one painful inch at a time, he drew the Kokiri Sword and jammed it through the spider's eye. The spider bellowed and began to sway back and forth, then suddenly it tensed and threw its weight into Link, knocking him onto his back.

Link jumped to his feet while the spider was still swaying and dove past it with a twist of his shoulders before it could strike him again. Snatching up the Master Sword, he spun around to stab the spider through the belly and discovered that it had caught its web line on a candle in one of its last swings. When the flame burned through seconds later, the spider fell, impaling itself on the Master Sword with a gurgle of protest.

Link reached around the body for the hilt of the Kokiri Sword. Finding it, he wrenched both swords out at once, kicked the body away, and held the gut-splattered blades up to the light.

"Hungry?"

"Gross!" Navi pulled at his ear with a squeal of disgust.

Link shrugged and wiped the blades off on a patch of ivy growing from the cracks in the walls. Sheathing both weapons, he turned his attention to the door at the end of the hall.

"Let's see what we're in for, then."

* * *

From the ground up, the grand hall of the Forest Temple teemed with balconies, archways, and staircases. The architecture, though once beautiful, had been marred by centuries of cobwebs, rodent droppings, and thick dust that choked the lungs. A massive dome capped the chamber a hundred feet overhead, but a lack of windows forced anyone brave enough to venture there to provide most of their own light.

"Look," said Navi.

Link stared through the cloud of dust stirred up by his passing and found his gaze drawn to the center of the room. A primitive elevator booth, surrounded by four lit torches, provided an eerie relief to the shadows.

"Let's see what else is down there," Navi said too loudly, startling a family of mice from its home in a nearby urn. Afraid she might wake something worse than a mouse or spider, Link tried to shush her.

Something hissed in the darkness.

Link almost tore his tunic at the hip trying to snatch the Master Sword from its sheath. He scanned the chamber to his left, ready for almost anything except what he saw: Saria, alone and huddling in a corner of the room.

At first, she didn't appear to notice them, but he knew she would have heard the sharp echo of Navi's voice, if nothing else.

"Saria…" He approached at a gentle gait but kept his blade at the ready.

Saria stood and turned to face them. Sparing Link a single cryptic glance, she walked past him, moving towards the elevator. He trailed her at a distance, uneasy, his palms sweaty on the hilt of the Master Sword.

"Look!" said Navi.

Following her flight path, he glanced at the opposite corner of the room and felt a shudder wrack his body. Another Saria, heading straight for the elevator like the first, floated along the floor silently.

Navi screeched. "There's two of her!"

"Four." Link quickly checked the other corners of the room.

The four Sarias came to a stop simultaneously, each setting root by one of the torches.

"They're ghosts, aren't they?"

Link nodded. "Probably the same ones Sheik warned us about."

The four specters burst into flames, their laughter shrill as they took on new shapes. Saria's image vanished, leaving four half-human scarecrows in its place.

"They're different colors."

"I can see that," Link hissed.

Red, green, blue, and violet, the specters hovered for a moment longer before sweeping their arms through the torches, stealing the flames only to place them in new vessels. The next moment, the four scattered back to the corners they'd started from until they faded into the walls.

As if triggered by the sudden darkness, the elevator booth sank through the floor.

"Maybe they knew we were coming," Navi said.

Link frowned at the place where the elevator had disappeared. "Getting downstairs must be the key."

"Do you think we should follow them?"

He wiped his forehead of sweat, swallowing. "Do you think we have a choice?"

* * *

The frame of the oil painting overlooking the corridor had begun to rot a century ago. Moss riddled the wall around it, and the paint had faded until the original portrait was impossible to make out. But that didn't prevent it from being useful.

Two blood-red eyes blinked in the dark. The specter's thoughts glided from one matter to the next, but they always returned to this: however long she had to wait, it didn't matter. The intruder would find this place eventually.

Across the hall, the canvas of a second oil painting shifted, forming the image of one of her sisters.

_He comes._

* * *

Link explored the temple for three hours, rifling through coins, jewels, and broken pottery. At another time, the adventure would have thrilled him, but his enthusiasm remained in check while the ghosts remained in hiding.

"Hey, come look at this."

He groaned. "I think I've seen enough junk for one day, Navi."

"No, really. Look!"

Link sighed. The room looked just like ten others they had seen in the last half-hour. "We're wasting time."

"Fine, then. If you don't want a Fairy Bow, just say so."

"A…Fairy Bow?" He followed her to the edge of the room and watched her disappear through the keyhole of an oak chest bedecked with dust, its iron hinges rusty with the passage of time.

"In here." Her voice came from the chest, muffled. "You'll have to break it open."

Link knelt, brushing cobwebs from the chest as he ran his hand along the lid. Just in case, he reached for the latch.

_Thump._ A substantial weight hit the floor somewhere behind them, scaring up dust. He paused. No ghost could have made that noise.

"Was that you, Link?"

Link slowly turned his gaze in the direction of the sound. _If only it had been._

An undead skeleton glared back at him, its eye sockets burning with a subtle red flame. As if its bones alone weren't hard enough to crack his skull open, the skeleton carried a curved sword and a round shield larger than his own.

"Just cut the hinges with your sword!" Navi chirped.

Link stepped aside as the skeleton made a clumsy lunge, its sword piercing the oak chest instead of his heart.

"I think you almost got it," said Navi. "Try again!"

Link sucked in a breath and rolled between the skeleton's legs, severing the pelvis with a clean sweep of the Master Sword. The top half of the skeleton tumbled onto the floor, its sword arm breaking off at the shoulder but still clinging to the blade. Kicking the legs away, he pulled the skeleton's sword from the chest and jerked the lid free.

"What took so long?" Navi escaped in a blur of wings. "You sure made enough noise!"

Ignoring her, Link knelt, staring into the chest at a bow and a full quiver of arrows.

_Perfect._

The bow fit comfortably over his right shoulder. Strapping the quiver alongside it, he strode through a doorway into a narrow corridor, batting aside a curtain of cobwebs. Ahead, he glimpsed a moss-covered staircase, but the low ceiling prevented him from seeing beyond the first few steps.

"Seems warmer in here." He took it slowly in the dim light, keeping a hand on the wall for balance. Twice, the bow scraped the wall, startling them both.

He stopped when they came to the stairs. The ceiling rose parallel with the stairway, directing his gaze to a painting that hung on the wall at the top of the stairs. _What the…_

Navi shrieked. "Look out!"

Link fumbled for his bow as the painting erupted in flames and the blue ghost flew at him like debris flung from an explosion. His practice with slingshots and smaller bows in the forest took over as he fixed an arrow to the string and pulled it back, grunting at the powerful strain on his arms.

_Why are you here?_

The sudden whisper in his head threw off his aim, and the arrow spun into the wall. Navi got between him and the ghost, but the ghost crashed through both of them, blasting them back down the hallway.

Link groaned and rolled to the side, his eyelids fluttering. He had landed on his shield, nearly breaking his back. He groped for the bow but couldn't find it. The ghost hovered over him, dangling the torch just above his face.

_We were friends once._ The scarecrow shape disappeared, leaving Saria's image in its place again. _Have you forgotten me?_

His hand fell on the trigger of Sheik's strange weapon, the Hookshot. Grabbing it up, he fired. The steel spike tore through the ghost's right arm, spilling blue flames on the floor and on Link's clothing.

_Curse you…_

He rolled over as the ghost swung the torch at his body, hitting his shield and spilling more flames over the moss that carpeted the stairway. The light glimmered on his bow; he tried to dive for it, but the ghost knocked it away, and in the process he dropped the Hookshot, too.

He had maybe a second before the ghost turned on him and swung the torch at his head. In that time, he managed to roll over again, slide the Master Sword from its sheath, and point it at the ghost's face—the face of Saria.

The ghost paused, the arm with the torch upraised. _You would kill a friend?_

Link held the blade steady. "You expect me to confuse an image with the reality?"

_In us, you _see _reality. In us, you see the objects that torment your own thoughts._

"There's no need for me to fight you. I know Ganondorf cursed you and your sisters, but you can free yourselves by working against him. Let me help you."

_We are bound to our task._

Link's face tightened. "As am I."

They lunged forward in tandem, the image and the reality, each striking the other but only one surviving the exchange. Link dropped to the floor, his clothes aflame yet again, while the ghost flailed about in pain, impaled by the Master Sword.

"I'm sorry," he said, partly to the image of Saria and partly to the ghost itself.

With one final shriek, the ghost, along with the torch and all the flames that had been eating at the growth in the hallway, vanished.

"Are you okay?" Navi appeared at his left shoulder. "Were you talking to the ghost?"

He frowned. "Didn't you see her?"

"Saria?"

He nodded. "I could hear her—it—talking to me. It said in them we see things that torment our own thoughts."

"I did see her a little, at first, but then it changed to you."

He smiled slightly. "Do I mean _that _much to you?"

"Don't get a big head over it, Mr. 'Hero of Time.'"

His grin widened as he turned to retrieve his scattered weapons, but a distant shout brought his attention to the door leading back to the room they'd come from. "What was that?"

They listened as the sounds grew fainter, then louder, as if someone was stumbling through the temple, not caring whether they made their presence known to every living creature.

"Listen," said Navi. "Doesn't it sound like Mido?"

Link shrugged. "It _would_ be like him. A ghost wouldn't be making that much noise."

A crash echoed from the next room. The sound of fire crackling reached them, and a glimmer of red light played at the end of the corridor. A second later, they saw not one, but two Midos come dashing towards them.

"Get him away from me."

"Shut up. This thing's been chasing me ever since I got here!"

"Kill _him._ He's the fake!"

"Fake, nothing. Hey, Link. Remember that time I stuck a pine needle up your nose?"

"Yeah? What about our last birthday party? Remember I ate half the Skulltula pie Saria made us?"

Link's head spun. Both were speaking aloud, and both knew details about his history with Mido. Was _either_ image real?

"Both sound like Mido," Navi whispered, "but one of them keeps changing shapes."

Link bit his lip. "To me, they _both_ look like Mido. Which one is it?"

She told him. "Be careful."

Link approached the pair as they vied for his attention. "I believe you," he said.

Both Midos paused, each staring at the other. "You do? Which one?"

Link stopped in front of the Mido on his right and knelt to eye level. "Your sister already tried confusing me. It didn't work."

The other Mido sighed. "That was close. I thought you were going to believe _him."_

Link swung the Master Sword at the left Mido, cutting off the expression of relief in a burst of red flame. The scarecrow form reappeared, flailing its torch at Mido and Link, but sight and sound of the ghost soon evaporated, leaving the corridor empty.

"I recognized your breath," Link said, drawing a snort from Mido.

Navi zipped between them. "How did you find us?"

"Some of us still know how to climb trees with our bare hands." Mido smirked.

Link raised an eyebrow. "You could have come with us to start."

"I'm no coward. I told you Saria wanted me to wait for her."

"Obviously, you decided to help us find her."

"Obviously."

Link handed Mido the Kokiri Sword as he picked his other weapons off the floor. "You might need this."

Mido tried to cover the glow on his face with a scowl. "Thanks, Octorok Lips."

"You're welcome…Skulltula Brains."

* * *

**Well, here we are, deep into our first dungeon with Link as an adult. As with the "Inside the Great Deku Tree" section, the Forest Temple went through several revisions until I was reasonably satisfied with the outcome. When you think about the way this temple is set up in the game, with Link chasing four ghosts one-by-one around a musty stone labyrinth, this could have gotten REALLY repetitive. Obviously, I didn't want that, and I don't think you would, either. Spicing it up plot and character wise with the visions of Saria and the presence of Mido, hopefully, goes a long way to relieve that sense of repetition.**

**I can't wait for you to read the boss fight and Link's encounter with the Sage of Forest in Chapters 24 and 25. Thanks for sticking with me, folks. Your support means a lot, and every review I get is like finding an orange rupee. Only better \(^v^)/. どうもありがとうございました. Until next time!**


	25. Banished

Chapter 24: Banished

"Stop," Navi said. "I hear something."

Link and Mido froze. The three of them had been inching along a narrow ledge for the past few minutes, overlooking an open courtyard they had stumbled on in their search for the ghosts. The ledge had no guardrail, leaving them free to tumble to the ground fifteen feet below.

Link shielded his eyes out of habit, though the sky had continued to darken since he entered the temple. "What is it?"

"Over there." Navi pointed to a ripple spreading across the surface of a pond in one corner of the courtyard.

"It's just a fish." Mido rolled his eyes.

Link motioned for silence, and they waited. The ripple had almost dissipated when another suddenly replaced it. "I heard it, too. It's coming from the wall." He pointed to a spot just above the lake.

Mido growled. "I don't hear anything."

"You might if you shut up." Navi flicked the boy's left ear.

"You're one to talk."

_"Quiet!"_ Link shook his head and peered closely at the wall. "I don't think it's a ghost."

Mido scowled. "Why not?"

"If it was, it would probably just come through the wall," said Navi. "Right, Link?"

He would have nodded, but the wall ruptured with a clap, sending out a cloud of dust and shards of brick from a hole large enough for several bodies to pass through abreast. Two undead skeletons with swords and round shields barged through the hole into the courtyard.

"Get down," Link hissed, throwing himself on his stomach.

The two skeletons grunted and stomped their way through the courtyard. Flowers, grass, and other flora wilted as they passed by. Nothing dared to disrupt their passage—until they had neared a certain ledge and an arrow sped from above, the broadhead entering through the nasal cavity of one skeleton and smashing out the back of its skull.

Both warriors paused, glaring up at the ledge with suspicion. The one with the arrow in its head jumped, swiping at the underside of the ledge with its sword.

"Hey, listen!"

The skeletons spun to face the tiny foe at their rear. As soon as they had turned about, Link dove from the ledge and tackled the one he had shot, severing its head from the spinal cord with one swift sword stroke.

The other skeleton might have avenged its companion, but Mido quickly prevented this by following Link off the ledge. The Kokiri Sword flashed as he caught the skeleton by the neck and drove the blade in and out of its mouth, breaking several of its teeth. In an effort to mimic Link, he hacked at the skeleton's spinal cord near the head, but the blade stuck in the bone.

"Down!" said Link.

Mido ducked as the Master Sword cleaved vertebrae, sending the skeleton's head and upper spine into the pond beside him. With his hands wrapped tightly around the Kokiri Sword, he tumbled to the ground, landing on his tailbone.

Link sheathed his sword and helped Mido to his feet. "Is that what you get for spending less time with the sword and more with Saria's Skulltula Pie?"

"Funny." Mido pointed at the hole in the wall. "I say we find out what else is in there."

"Maybe one of the ghosts," Navi said.

Mido scratched his cheek. "So who's going in?"

"I insist." Link gestured at the hole with his free arm. "Women and children first."

* * *

The army of Stalfos beside her grumbled with impatience, eager to attack the enemy. They all sensed the presence of Farore's blade as it entered the hall, proving that her two scouts had served their purpose in drawing the foe here; now she had to keep the rest of her companions silent for a few more minutes while they waited.

_Our plans have changed, sister._ The voice of her one remaining sibling echoed in her spirit. _The master himself desires to confront our enemy. You must lead them _here.

The green ghost blinked. _What of the Stalfos?_

_If they kill the intruder and his companions, so be it. If not, keep away from the sword of Farore, but be sure you are followed._

_ I obey._ Green brushed the visor of the helmet screening her face. _They will not escape._

* * *

When Link and Mido stepped through the hole, they found they had entered a dingy hall paved with rotting carpet. On both sides, for as far as they could see, there were suits of armor crammed against the walls, most of them half-rusted. Navi's light bounced off the metal, setting their nerves on edge at the sight of their own garbled reflections.

"The smell. It's like in Hyrule Castle Town," Link whispered. "Like something dead." He turned to the nearest suit of armor and lifted the visor. "Check the others."

"What are you doing?" Mido stopped. "Those look like they haven't been touched in a hundred years. How could anything be hiding in there?"

"Just do it," Navi said.

Mido stomped toward one of the suits. "Fine, but I'm telling you this is a waste of—"

The suit of armor in front of Mido tore apart, shredded from the inside. A skeleton jumped out at him, swinging a sword that would have cut off his head if he had stood at Link's height. Startled, he fell over backwards, dropping the Kokiri Sword.

Link raced forward, sword and shield guarding his face. Intent on Mido's aid, he never saw the threat approaching from his blindside.

But Navi did. "Watch out!"

The green ghost bowled him over, throwing his sword to the ground. Somehow, he held onto his shield as he went down, gripping it with both hands as the ghost tried to set him alight with its torch. Link avoided the flames by batting the torch aside with his shield so that the fire dropped on the floor, sending up curls of acrid smoke as it ate through the carpet.

Recovering from his initial shock, Mido danced beneath the skeleton's legs, staying out of range of its sword whenever possible. By then, the corridor had been choked with dozens of the undead and strewn with ruptured suits of armor.

Link, seeing it would be impossible to fight their way out, shouted above the din. "Navi, I need you to fly along the ceiling!" Retrieving his sword, he dove behind a scrap of armor and waited for the ghost's next attack. When it didn't come, he looked up to find the specter fleeing.

From the corner of his eye, he saw Navi drifting down the hall, on the track of the ghost. As he began to turn his attention back on the skeletons, he saw her pass a wooden arch. "Stop!" Crushing a skeleton's sternum with the hilt of his sword, he pushed his shattered enemy into a group of several other skeletons and grabbed Mido by the wrist.

"What now?" Mido frowned.

Link kept their closest enemies off with a wide sweep of his blade. Then, with only a moment to spare before the mob overwhelmed them, he sheathed the weapon and found the Hookshot Sheik had given him at the temple's entrance. Aiming the device at the arch Navi hovered by, he clicked the trigger. The spike ripped through the oak, and a moment later the chain retracted. As his feet left the ground, he seized a fistful of Mido's tunic and held on.

"Wait." Mido winced. "My sword!"

"No time!" Link flinched at the strain on his upper body as the chain withdrew into itself, flinging them high above the chaos below. Just before they hit the arch, he swung his feet out, allowing the chain to carry them forward into the corridor like a pendulum. When he sensed they had gone as far as they could, he squeezed the trigger again, detaching the spike from the arch.

As gravity hurled them down towards the floor, he breathed a silent prayer of thanks to Din, noting that they would land beyond the crowd of skeletons. In spite of a rough landing, he and Mido managed to run once they had gained their feet. As long as they didn't meet a dead end, Link felt certain they could keep well in front of any pursuit.

"Come on!" Navi led them around the corner ahead. "After the ghost!"

* * *

Panic. Betrayal. These were things the ghost hadn't felt in a long time. Their master had promised a swift end to the task he had assigned them, but two of her sisters had been sent to the Evil Realm by the sword of Farore, and now it pursued her as well.

_They have me, sister._

Her one remaining sibling answered calmly. _The master is in control now. We need hurry no longer._

_ He betrayed us to Farore._

_ The others were weak. They have served their purpose._

_ Weak? _The green ghost careened into statues and walls in her haste to outrun the sword-bearer. _We swore an oath, each to the other. The fate of one would be the fate of all._

Her sister's voice rose slightly. _You are right to speak of betrayal. I knew the master's plan, and still I followed it!_

* * *

"I told you it was leading us," Navi said.

The green ghost's flight finally ended in the grand hall, where the elevator booth Link had seen on his way in remained beneath the floor. With the defeat of the blue and red ghosts, the fire they had stolen from the torches had returned to its proper place, so that only two of the four torches by the elevator were now empty.

"The other ghost is probably here, too," said Link. "Keep an eye out."

Muttering, Mido slipped an arrow from Link's quiver and clenched it by the middle of the shaft. "I'll just take one of these since you left my sword to those things back there."

The green ghost had stopped by the elevator shaft. Though it had no readable expression, the fatigue apparent in its movements conveyed more than just physical exhaustion, if exhaustion was possible. It suggested sadness.

Link pointed Mido to the other side of the enclosure surrounding the elevator. "There. Make sure it doesn't run."

Before Mido could obey these instructions, the violet ghost appeared suddenly and thrust its torch through the green ghost's back. Screams mixed with the green and purple flames as the green ghost's form changed briefly through the billowing smoke.

Link's breath caught. The image of young Princess Zelda, wreathed in flames, threw him into a rage. Mido and Navi tried to restrain him, but he broke away and dashed towards the shaft of the elevator with a yell, stabbing at the ghosts. Since the green ghost was already fading, he focused most of his wrath on the violet ghost. But before his blade could touch it, the ghost split into four mirror images of itself.

All four honed in, surrounding him. Navi and Mido watched helplessly from the outside, unsure where to begin an attack. Link swung at the nearest image of the ghost, obliterating it in a cloud of vapor. Two of the other images vanished, leaving only the true image of the ghost.

Ignorant of everything else around him, Link took out the Hookshot and released it point-blank into the ghost's face. When the chain retracted, the ghost came with it, hurled forward by sheer force—straight onto the point of the Master Sword.

* * *

The violet ghost accepted her defeat without a sound. In the moment after her impact with the sword of Farore, darkness opened up, total, complete, profound. The shadows gnawed at her body until she had become one with the void around her. The pain was overwhelming, but she did not panic like the rest of her siblings, because she knew her master would call her back to reward her for deceiving the others.

But as the minutes rolled by, then the hours, the darkness never ceased, and the awful realization set in at last. She, too, had been betrayed. She tried to call out, but she had no voice. She tried to look for an escape, but there was nowhere to turn.

In the Evil Realm, she was alone. Now. Forever.

Because of her master: Ganondorf.


	26. Sage of Forest

Chapter 25: Sage of Forest

_My love, she's but a lassie yet._

~Robert Burns

* * *

"Are you alright?" Navi said. "I never saw you so upset. What was it?"

Link wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and slipped the Hookshot onto his belt. "Nothing."

Navi landed on his shoulder gently. "Was it Saria?"

"I saw her." Link shook his head. "It was Zelda."

Mido rubbed his chin. "Who's Zelda?"

"It was just a ghost, Link," Navi said.

Link put his sword away and pretended he hadn't heard her. Now that the ghosts were gone, the elevator booth in the temple's grand hall had reappeared. Open on all four sides, the booth provided enough room for the three of them to crowd on at the same time. As soon as they had done so, the elevator creaked and began to sink through the floor again. Soon, the hall had vanished from sight.

Mido folded his arms. "You never did answer the question."

Link never looked at him. "What question?"

"Where have you been?"

The elevator ground to a halt on the basement floor. No one got out.

"It'll be okay," Navi said. "Mido's alive. Why not Saria? And you saw Zelda escape the city. They all know how to take care of themselves."

Link trembled. "Hyrule's a _wasteland,_ Navi! You saw what Ganon did to the city, and he didn't stop there!"

Mido clapped his hands on his hips. "Would somebody tell me what's going on?"

"I'm going out there." Link stepped off the elevator and kept walking, even though Navi didn't follow him at first.

"You need to rest now," Navi said. "You're not feeling well, and you haven't eaten."

Mido pushed past her. "I'm coming, too. If there's any chance of finding Saria..."

* * *

The room seemed small at first glance, but the look was deceptive. After climbing a short flight of steps, Link and Mido had walked onto a circular stage surrounded on all sides by iron spokes. Beneath them, a painting of the Triforce covered most of the stage, but it wasn't the only painting in the room.

There were four of them, one at each of the major compass points. To the naked eye, the portraits seemed identical; all portrayed an unpaved road in the middle of the wilderness, leading up to a house set against the twilight horizon.

"Nothing here," said Mido.

Link smiled. "You think that if you want to. Neither one of you has to stay."

"You're not the _only_ one who made a promise to the Great Deku Tree," Navi said.

Mido grunted. "Well, I didn't, but I did make a promise to Saria."

More iron spokes shot from beneath the stage, barring the way they had come.

"Guess that takes care of it," Mido said. Before he had finished saying this, a whine split the air, forcing them to hold their ears while a purple thundercloud formed near the ceiling.

Link handed Mido his bow and quiver. "One arrow won't do you much good by itself."

Mido hooked the quiver's strap around his shoulder and twanged the bowstring. "Thanks, fairy-less."

Just as the cloud began to take on a flat circular shape, a horse with fur as black as night sailed from the middle of it, floating on the air.

Link recognized the animal the moment he saw it. Seven years had hardly tarnished his memory of Ganondorf Dragmire or his steed.

But it wasn't Ganon riding that horse, was it? He stared closely at the rider, unmoving. The facial structure, the armor, the boots, and all the other outward features remained the same, except for one: the eyes. The eyes of the rider seemed alike and yet so unlike the man he had encountered on Hyrule Castle Town's drawbridge as a boy.

The rider carried a staff with three metal prongs, something like a pitchfork, but with the prongs at either end pointing outward at forty-five degree angles. The staff smoked and sparked as if in the throes of an electric current.

"Run!"

None of them knew who had spoken, but all obeyed the command as a bolt of lightning struck the center of the stage just a few feet from where they were standing. A second bolt followed the first, leaping from the rider's staff to the soles of Link's boots. The jolt threw him onto his face gasping for air.

"Look!" said Navi.

Link rolled over with a groan and propped himself up on his elbows. The cloud had disappeared, but the horse and rider hovered over center stage. The rider lifted his free arm and tore at the flesh of his face as if it were a mask of wood or iron hiding the naked skull beneath.

The three of them recoiled. The phantom Ganon—it could hardly be the real Ganon now—had no jaw. A pair of horns protruded from the top of the skull like spearheads.

Shaking, Mido lifted an arrow to the string and shot at the rider just as the horse lunged forward. The shaft fell short, striking the horse's leg just above the right rear hoof but failing to penetrate flesh.

Unmoved, horse and rider sailed _into_ the painting on the eastern wall, above the stairs. Instead of the solid impact Link and the others expected, another cloud opened in front of the painting, and their foe shrank until his size matched the scale of the objects in the painting. The horse gave the painting a peculiar sense of life as it galloped along the imaginary road, headed for the twilight horizon. When it reached the horizon, it vanished.

"It's gone!" Navi screeched.

Link stood to his feet, sword in hand, and turned in a complete circle. "No."

Two identical horses approached, one from the painting on the north wall, the other from the west. Both increased in size as they raced from the horizon to the forefront of the scene.

"If this one is like the other ghosts," Link said, "only one of the riders is real."

A cloud materialized to the north. Link saw it from the corner of his eye. "Mido, shoot!"

The arrow pierced the horse's mouth this time, pinning the gums to the upper lip as the animal left the cloud, back to full size. The rider whipped his staff in a circle and brought it down at Mido's face. Link was there to meet the staff with the Master Sword before the blow landed.

The rider spurred its injured mount past them, and the two burrowed into another painting, this time on the south wall. Again, they became a speck on the black road, speeding toward the horizon.

"Give me that." Link snatched the Fairy Bow and left Mido holding the Master Sword while he strung an arrow and waited for the rider to appear.

Mido tried in vain to raise the sword above his elbows. "How do you carry this?"

In his desperation to put an end to Ganondorf—even his phantom—Link aimed at the painting on the south wall but failed to check the others. When the cloud opened _behind_ him, to the north, he had just enough time to whirl and watch the black horse leap over.

The lightning caught him in the chest this time, tossing him several feet backwards, onto the spokes at the stage's rim. Had his shield been in his hands instead of at his back, he would have been impaled. Instead, he rolled onto the stage, dizzy but relatively unscathed.

Mido dropped the Master Sword and grabbed the bow from Link's arms. "Mine." A shot at the retreating horse clattered against the painting on the western wall as the rider escaped into the frame.

"Yours." Link recovered his sword and his senses and stood with Mido.

"Left," said Navi. "There it is!"

A scream filled the chamber as Mido's arrowhead sliced through the horse's chest, into its right lung, as the animal left the new cloud forming to the north. The rider, leaving its dying mount to float listless, jumped from the saddle and twirled its staff in a circle, still hovering in the air.

Link burned with the memory of Zelda's face enveloped in the green ghost's flames. "Enough of these images. Face me yourself if you have the courage!"

Mido shook his head as Link and the rider closed with one another. "He's lost it."

The rider's staff continued to spin, building up electricity. When the buildup peaked, the rider discharged the staff at Link. This time, instead of lightning, the attack came in the form of a sphere about twice the size of his head.

He swung at the sphere without thinking. The metal in the Master Sword should have driven the electricity straight into his body, but instead, the blade connected with the sphere as if it were a solid object and hurled it back at the rider.

Mido flinched. "Incredible."

The sphere smashed into the rider's body, flinging it into convulsions. Limbs failed to respond to commands from the brain, and the rider quickly sank to the stage. Link rushed at the phantom and spitted it on his blade.

A voice came from the hole in the rider's chest. _"Worthless ghost! I will banish it to the gap between dimensions. Step back unless you wish to join it."_

A cloud opened on the stage, beneath the rider. A vacuum on the other side of the portal pulled the body inside, tearing it apart in the process.

Link stabbed at the spot where the cloud dissolved. "Where is she, Ganondorf?"

The voice continued to speak, though the body had vanished. _"I see you have grown, boy. Do not think when you face _me,_ it will end as swiftly."_

"Answer my question!"

Mido whispered to Navi. "Who's Ganondorf?"

_"Princess Zelda is dead, slain by the King of Hyrule,"_ said Ganon.

The Master Sword slipped from Link's fingers. "Dead. No, not true."

_"She survived far longer than I expected. Her guardian, Impa, performed her job well. Not that it saved either one of them in the end. Shall I tell you how I killed her?"_

Link closed his eyes. Zelda's face and voice, her gentle, unassuming nature, the way she had understood him—even the taste of the fruit she had given him when he left the castle—all of these things pierced him with the force of a longing he had hidden even from himself.

_"Shall I tell you how I cut her throat while Impa watched, pinned by my sword?"_

"Gods!" Link clutched at his throat as if the wound had been his. "She was no threat. _You already had what you wanted!"_

A laugh was Ganon's only reply for almost two minutes. _"I will have what I want when the gods who created Hyrule beg forgiveness for the crimes they allowed against my people." _A pause, and then, _"The closer you come to me, Hero of Time, the more I will remind you of her!"_

Had he remained conscious, Link later realized, he would have been a danger to Mido and Navi, as well as himself. But body and spirit had endured more than they were capable of.

He saw his friends running to catch him, but he no longer cared. He fell, greeting the release of the void with a sigh of relief.

* * *

_"Come back," I can hear her saying. "Come back, Link. You can't quit now. There are so many things I have to tell you."_

_ Am I dead? Is that Zelda's voice? Is this the afterlife?_

_ Another voice, definitely Navi. "I think he's waking up."_

_ I hear rain trickling in the background. Something hard beneath me. Uncomfortable, but somehow familiar._

_ The first voice again. "You're almost there. Stay with us."_

_ "You're alive," I whisper, but I know it's not Zelda. The pang of that realization seizes me but passes quickly._

_ "Yes, I am," she says, "but you almost didn't make it."_

_ I keep my eyes closed, unable to look her in the face. "We thought you were dead."_

_ "I almost _did _die." She lowers her voice, as if speaking to herself. "It was the first time I'd gone back to that part of the forest since you left. It didn't feel right, but that wasn't just because you were gone. I know now it was the evil in the temple I was feeling. If it wasn't for you and Mido, I'd be back there still. I didn't have enough strength to fight the evil on my own."_

_ With sudden insight into the clues of the past and present, I realize where we are—the Sacred Realm—and what my childhood friend has become. "You're the Sage of Forest," I say, finally opening my eyes._

_ Saria is quiet for several minutes. "That explains a lot, doesn't it? How I sensed the evil that night in the forest. Why both of us were drawn to these ruins, even though we couldn't know what they were back then."_

_ Thoughts and regrets I've tried to ignore for so long brim over now in her company. "I left you alone, just standing there on the bridge. No goodbyes. Not a word after what you said to me." I fumble for the ocarina—her ocarina—and give it to her. "I've lost the right to carry this."_

_ Without saying a word, she takes my hand, and all the guilt I've carried since that day is washed away in her touch. She's half my height now, but her character stands taller than ever._

_ She takes a deep breath. "I hope you'll forgive me, too."_

_ This surprises me far more than her being a Sage. "Forgive you for what?"_

_ "I wasn't honest with you about who you were. I knew more about it than almost anyone, but I was always trying to protect you from the truth." She wipes her eyes with the back of her hand. "You're not a Kokiri, Link. You're a Hylian."_

_ The revelation that I'm not a Kokiri is unsurprising. What jolts me is the thought that Zelda and I come from the same race._

_ "Just don't tell me she's my sister," I mutter, only half joking._

_ Saria frowns. "I'm sorry?"_

_ "Never mind." I attempt to change the subject. "Where's Mido?"_

_ Saria helps me to my feet. "Safe, with the others."_

_ "Others?"_

_ "The Kokiri. They've survived."_

_ A joy I've not felt since leaving the Temple of Time swells in my chest. "How many?"_

_ Saria lowers her eyes. "Some died when the wolves attacked our homes, but the rest found shelter in the Great Deku Tree. We were safe there for weeks. The wolves shied away from him, even in death."_

_ "Let's go back," I say. "They'll be waiting for us."_

_ She shakes her head. "I'm a Sage. Hyrule isn't my home anymore. Until we seal Ganondorf, I _have_ to stay here with the others."_

_ I swallow, clenching my left fist. "Saria, I…"_

"_It's okay, Link." A smile appears on her face. "I love you more than you know, but my heart will always beat in this child's body." She wipes more tears from her eyes as she kisses me on the cheek. "Someday, you'll find the other heart that beats with yours."_

_The thought of Ganon cutting Zelda's throat—gods, let it be a lie—threatens to wipe out any semblance of hope I have in my heart. "I'll find her if she's alive."_

_ "I almost forgot," Saria says, reaching for an emerald disc that she places in my arms before she steps back to the pedestal reserved for the Forest Sage. "Use that when you need my help. It only works once."_

_ I tuck the disc away. "Will you take the ocarina?"_

_ "No, that was always yours. But if you want, since we can never be more than friends now, there is someone else who might be encouraged by it if you pass it on to him."_

_ "I understand." I offer her a bow, since we're standing on opposite sides of the platform now. "Goodbye, Saria."_

_ The last thing I hear from the Sacred Realm is her voice. "Goodbye, Link…"_

* * *

**At this significant turn in Link's relationship with one of his dearest friends, I feel a word of acknowledgement is in order to all the Link/Saria shippers out there. I've seen some _awesome_ fanart featuring the two together as kids. I love those.**

**Still, in my mind, a scene like the one you've just read is the only way it could ever turn out. Saria is obviously capable of adult thoughts and feelings, or else she wouldn't make a very good Sage. Therefore, her falling in love with Link is entirely plausible based on their early and lifelong connection. But if one tried to make it go any further than this, it would just be...creepy.**

**So I hope you'll forgive me ;-).**

**More surprises are in store for the chapters ahead, but as with this one, I trust you'll find that each surprise is just as plausible based on plot and character details gleaned from the game.**

**Keep reading! \(^v^)/**


	27. Revelations

Chapter 26: Revelations

_For mother's sake, the child was dear,  
__And dearer was the mother for the child._

~Samuel Taylor Coleridge

* * *

From the Sacred Realm, Link and Navi were returned to the clearing where the Great Deku Tree had died. They were not alone when they got there. A crowd of Kokiri, led by Mido himself, surrounded the two of them as soon as they arrived.

"What took so long?" Mido glared, hands on hips.

Link, still trying to clear his mind of the Sacred Realm, blinked twice before meeting all the stares directed his way. "Where have you been?"

"Where have I been?" Mido shrugged. "Where have _you _been? Did you see Saria?"

Link nodded. "Both of us have chosen, or we _were_ chosen, to help Hyrule go back to the way it was." He nodded at the Great Deku Tree. "Before _this_ happened."

One rosy-cheeked girl with pigtails spoke up. "Is that possible?"

"I don't know. We have to try."

"Hey, look," Navi said. "There's something new growing here!"

At the foot of the Great Deku Tree, a sprig of a plant poked through the grass around it.

Someone coughed. "What is it?"

Mido peered close. "It looks like a weed."

The ground rumbled. The children exchanged nervous looks. Link waved them back.

The soil around the plant exploded, showering clods of dirt in a five-foot radius. Most of the children ran for cover. Where the sprig had been, a small tree had emerged from the ground.

_"Hello,"_ said the tree.

"Hello," said Navi.

The tree tested its voice, speaking slowly. _"I am…the Deku Tree Sprout."_

At first, no one moved or cried out except Link, who dropped to one knee. "Great Deku Tree."

_"No." _The tree interrupted him. _"I am a small tree, sprouted from one of his acorns."_

"But he died seven years ago." Mido scowled.

_"Yes. Because of that, it became dangerous for anything to grow here. But thanks to the four of you—Link, Mido, Saria, and Navi—that curse has been lifted."_

Link raised an eyebrow. "If you're not him, how do you know our names?"

The tree waved its scraggly branches. _"I may not be the Great Deku Tree himself, but I am his descendant. His memories and his knowledge have been passed on to me."_

Link's eyes widened slightly. "Then…you know how I came to live here."

_"Ah,"_ the tree said, _"now there is a story."_

* * *

_She fled for her life and the life of her son. On a white horse, across a bloodstained field cluttered with the dead and wounded, through rain and thunder and the moonless night, she fled, clutching the reins in one hand, supporting her son with the other. Behind her, the city rang with the clash of swords and spears, the shouts of victors, and the screams of the dying._

_ She had left with nothing._

_ Only her clothes, her son, and the horse had come with her. Her husband had stayed behind, determined to fight with the rest. Even now, he could be dead, but she tried not to think about it. All that mattered was her baby. She had to get him to safety. She had to get him to the forest. It was the only place untouched by this awful war._

* * *

Link was on both knees now, weeping for his mother and father, who had died to save him from the war that had almost destroyed Hyrule before he was born. "Is it true? All of it?"

_"I'm sorry, Link," _said the tree. _"Your mother lived long enough to find her way to the Great Deku Tree, but she was already dying when she entered the forest."_

"But if she died…" Link snuffed his tears and looked up. "Who took care of me?" A new sense of wonder stole over him. "Wait. It was Saria, wasn't it?"

_"Yes. Saria knew which plants were best for nourishment, and with the Great Deku Tree's help, she took responsibility for you until you were old enough to live in a house of your own."_

Navi turned on the children. "How many of you knew this?"

"We knew Saria was taking care of him," said Mido, "but if she knew where he came from, she never told us."

_"You should have treated him like one of your own, even without knowing where he came from," _the tree said. _"It is time you made up for the past."_

Link stood on his feet. "He's already done that. I don't think I could have made it through the Forest Temple without him."

Surprise flickered across Mido's face. "You don't? I mean…yeah, that's right."

Navi whispered in Link's ear. "I think you got him there."

"Don't worry." Link extended his right hand. "We don't have to like each other."

"Right." Mido smirked to avoid embarrassing himself in front of the others.

While the other children weren't looking, Link slipped the Fairy Ocarina into Mido's grasp and spoke in a whisper. "Saria wanted you to have this."

"She did?" The blood rushed to Mido's face. "Why?"

Link raised his voice. "Deku Tree Sprout, where will I find the rest of the temples?"

"_I could tell you that,"_ the tree said, _"but if you go to Kakariko Village, you will surely meet someone who can guide you more closely than I can."_

Link cocked his head. "Who?"

* * *

He paused at the foot of the stairway leading into Kakariko Village. "Do you think the Deku Tree Sprout knew what he was talking about? If _she's_ alive, Zelda might be, too."

Navi snorted. "What makes you think Ganondorf wouldn't lie about it?"

"I guess we'll find out." Link sighed and began climbing the stairway.

At first glance, there was little difference between the village and the village as he remembered it. But the more he examined it, the more he noticed the subtle changes: wear and tear on the buildings, a shop here or a house there where there had been nothing, and a general sense of claustrophobia. _Hard to believe Ganondorf spared it, _he thought.

Something moved behind a tree, a few feet to his right. Before he could tell what it was, a quarterstaff cracked him on the nose and brought him to his knees. He tried to draw his sword, but the staff smacked him again, this time on the left cheek.

Navi screeched. "What are you doing? We thought you were expecting us!"

Their assailant hesitated. "Yes. I expected more of you both."

"Why—" Link began, but the staff came down on his head, clapping against his skull. With a ringing in his ear and surprise on his face, he fell into unconsciousness.

He woke hours later with a headache, an earache, and several other aches he couldn't identify. Navi was at his bedside, unharmed, and Impa leaned over him with a bowl of soup. It took him several minutes to remember what had happened.

"You." He sat up with a start and backed away, only to discover that his bed was against a wall in a corner of the room. "Why did you…" With a groan, he clutched his nose and cheek, leaving the question unfinished.

"It's okay," Navi said. "Just let her explain."

Impa held out the bowl of soup. "Take this."

Link frowned at the awful smell wafting from the bowl. "I'm not hungry."

"You haven't eaten since we left the Temple of Time!" Navi said.

Impa gently pressed the bowl into his hands. "This will revive your strength. You will need it for your training."

Link took up the spoon resting on the lip of the bowl. "Training?"

"If I had been one of Ganondorf's servants, I might have killed you," Impa said, "and Hyrule would have lost its only hope."

"I didn't do so well, did I?"

Impa folded her arms. "Ganon will kill you unless you can learn to face a _real_ opponent." She paused. "You have one hour to rest. We will meet on the Death Mountain trail."

Link dropped the spoon in the bowl just as he was lifting it to his lips. "After a beating like that? It'll take days just to recover from these bruises!"

"One hour." Impa turned to the door of the one-room cabin. "For every minute you're late, you'll spend a night sleeping on the roof…no matter the weather."

* * *

Forty-five minutes later, with the sun in the west, Link jogged onto the trail he had taken to Goron City seven years ago.

"Why did she make me leave everything behind?"

"She says you should learn to fight without the Master Sword first," Navi said.

He wiped the sweat from his brow and winced at the pain throbbing in his skull. "I just hope she doesn't put me through another one of her pain tests."

Walking just ahead of them, Impa turned her head slightly. "Do not equate the trial of the moment with the pain of failure or death at Ganondorf's hands."

"So you've said." Link stopped for a moment, sore and out of breath.

"Who instructed you in the forest?"

"I taught myself how to fight, mostly." Link, hands on his knees, heard a sharp ring and looked up to see Impa approaching with a knife in each hand, pointed downward. "What's this?"

A slight smile crossed her face. "Your first lesson."

* * *

Though the result was the same, their second contest went on twice as long as the first, lasting for an entire minute this time. At the end, Impa helped Link to his feet and indicated that he should follow her up the trail.

"We will rest here for the night," she said when they had reached the halfway mark between the village and Goron City.

Link watched as she gathered a mound of dry brushwood.

"What are you doing?" Navi said.

"Get back." Lowering herself to her knees, Impa slammed her palm into the brushwood, and a flame roared up amidst the kindling.

With a start, Link yanked his hat off and tried to smother the blaze, but Impa pushed his arm aside.

"No. I am unharmed."

He stared at her palm. _"You _did that?"

She nodded. "It is a gift granted to those who find favor with Din."

Link slowly set his hat back on his head. "Will I learn how to do it?"

Frowning, Impa crouched at the fire's edge. "The Master Sword is the weapon of the Hero, forged by Farore and the Ancient Sages. If that is not enough to defeat the King of Evil, I fear the ability to call on Din's Fire would make little difference."

Retrieving a few strips of meat from a pack, she took some for herself and offered the rest to Link. Though dry, the taste of the meat was exceptional compared with the soup she had forced down his throat in her cabin. Link ate slowly, staring up at the mountain. A ring of fire had settled around the peak, replacing the fleecy clouds he had once taken comfort in.

"Impa?"

She did not look at him, but her silence invited him to ask the question that had been burning in his mind since he left the Forest Temple.

A bead of sweat ran down his left ear lobe. "When I was in the forest, Ganon spoke to me as if we were in the same room. He…told me things. Things about you and Zelda. He said he…"

Though her eyes remained on the fire, he thought he saw a glimmer of anger in her expression. "Continue," she said when he hesitated.

He swallowed. "He said he forced you to watch while he cut her throat."

Her brow furrowed. "And you believed this?"

"After seeing what he did to the city and the forest? I didn't know what to believe."

"You see I am unharmed."

"Then is she…?"

Impa never moved. "She is alive."

"And?"

"Safe, for now. To tell you where she is would be to risk everything."

Link turned away from the fire, hiding his face in the shadows, but the sudden, low sobs and the short gasps for breath were impossible to conceal.

"Thank you," he whispered. "Thank you, Impa."


	28. The Fire Temple

Chapter 27: The Fire Temple

Link trained with Impa for three weeks. From dawn until noon, they fought in the Kakariko graveyard, then took lunch with some of the villagers. Four hours of conditioning followed, and by the time they broke for supper in the evening, Link was exhausted.

At the end of each week, they returned to the cliff where they had spent the first night, and they dueled, perfecting every technique until one of them dropped from fatigue.

Link hated it at first, but the long hours finally paid off at the end of the third week when he pinned his mentor at the edge of the cliff after their most grueling fight yet.

"Well done," Impa said after he had helped her to her feet.

"Thanks." He sat down by the fire she had started and wolfed a slice of bread. "Go again?"

"No."

"Afraid of losing?"

A faint smile touched her lips. "No." She held up the pack that had carried their supper.

He cocked an eyebrow. "I've got more than I can carry already."

She flipped the pack open. "Inside."

Link stuffed the last piece of bread in his mouth and leaned in for a close inspection. "What's this?" He reached inside the pack and pulled out a tunic much like the tunic he was used to wearing, except that it was red.

"Heat-resistant," Impa said. "You will need it to survive the crater, for that is where you will discover the entrance to the Fire Temple."

"Why are you giving it to me now?"

"Tonight will be our last night together."

Link folded the tunic beneath his arm. "But there's so much I haven't learned."

"Less than you may think, perhaps." She lowered the pack to the ground. "Our time is short, and Hyrule's cry for redemption urgent."

He stood, draping the tunic over his shoulders. "Thank you."

She nodded. "Remember that Ganondorf will attack not just your body, but your soul as well. You are the greatest threat that lies between him and the final subjugation of Hyrule."

"He'll have to get through me, too," Navi said.

Impa frowned. "You must guard your heart, Link. He knows your weaknesses."

Link shuddered. "I know. I know only too well."

* * *

With the morning light, Link left the campsite and stole into Goron City, wearing the heat-resistant tunic Impa had given him. The steam rising from the vents in the rock made it far more difficult to see than he remembered. The sound of rocks being crunched underfoot echoed through the cavern, but as he listened, he thought he detected more than the sound of his own passage.

Navi zipped beneath his sleeve. "What was that?"

A stone struck Link's knee hard enough to leave a bruise. He winced but resisted the urge to draw his sword. "Is someone there?"

"We're not here to hurt you," said Navi. "We're friends of King Darunia!"

The reply was faint and trembling. "Be gone, servant of Ganondorf. My father isn't here."

Link strode forward cautiously. "You're King Darunia's son?"

"I am Link of the Gorons, named for the hero who rescued our people from the Dodongos seven years ago. Hear my name and tremble!"

Link stepped a little further into the mist and saw a young Goron cowering behind a pile of rocks. "Link. It's me. Your father's Sworn Brother."

The trembling ceased as the child examined his face. "You're him? The legendary Dodongo Buster?"

Link knelt and placed a hand on his namesake's shoulder. "Where are the others?"

The delight in the child's face wilted. "They are…they are prisoners of the dragon."

"What dragon?"

"You do not know the stories?"

Link shook his head.

The child's trembling returned in force. "When the Gorons built this city, they did not know that a great dragon lived inside the mountain. Volvagia would eat any Goron who came too close to his home in the crater. One day, a strong one arose from the city and crushed the dragon's skull with a hammer. That one became our king, and only his sons were allowed to be king after him."

Link smiled. "Then your father is one of his descendants?"

"Yes. The good part is that we are taught these stories from the time we are born. The bad part is that so many think they are stories for children. But they found out the dragon was real, didn't they? My father and I were the only ones who escaped. The dragon took the rest of them to the Fire Temple."

Link glanced around at the cavern. "Your father. Where is he now?"

"He said he was going to rescue them and kill the dragon."

Navi squeaked. "Then he'll need our help!"

The Goron hesitated. "You're going, too?"

Link stood to his feet. "Can you show us how to get to the crater?"

* * *

"We meet again, Hero of Time."

Link swung about and had almost cut his shadow's throat before recognition stayed his hand. "A warning would have been appreciated."

His shadow stepped into the light, most of which was given off by the lava gurgling below them. "Tell me. Why are you here?"

Link didn't bother to hide his surprise at the question. "To wake the Sages."

"That is what you are here to do. I ask only _why_ you are here."

Link shrugged. "For a friendship." _What kind of answer does he expect?_

"Indeed."

The sound of a harp string being plucked filled the air. Link wiped away sweat with his arms and retrieved the Ocarina of Time. Without the heat-resistant fabric, the temperatures in the crater certainly would have overwhelmed him.

"It is something that grows over time: a true friendship." Sheik's voice began low, increasing in volume as his fingers moved over the harp. "A bond that can be strengthened by shared hardship until it blossoms into a power to defeat evil. This is what the Bolero of Fire, a composition of Din herself, reminds us of. It is a song dedicated to the power of the heart."

Without realizing it, Link had been following the notes on his Ocarina. He lowered his arms and stared at the instrument and then at Sheik. "Why not stay?"

"It would be unwise for both our sakes."

"Wait." Link tried to step forward, but a jet of superheated gas exploded from a nearby cliff, blinding him. When his vision cleared, the crater was deserted. The encounter had begun so quickly and ended so abruptly that he wondered if it had happened at all.

He was about to ask Navi what she thought when Link, their Goron friend, came rolling at them from the edge of the crater, not stopping until he had almost run into them. Finally, he unfolded himself.

"Why does he keep doing that?" Navi whispered.

"I found it." The Goron child waved his arms. "The entrance to the Fire Temple!"

Hundreds of carvings and sculptures filled the interior of the crater, all of them formed from the natural rock. The child led them to a ladder descending through a hole in the floor. The stench of sulfur and brimstone coming from below was palpable.

"Let's go." Link slid into the hole and began to climb.

The Goron tapped him on the shoulder. "Do you hear something?"

"I hear it, too," said Navi.

A blur of wings surrounded Link before he had the chance to cry out. Something singed the bare skin of his arm, forcing him to release his grip on the ladder. He fell and would have hit the ground had he not snatched at the rungs and regained his hold six feet further down.

_Bats._ When one of the creatures flew into his field of vision, he discovered where the heat had come from. The bats were on fire. "Oh."

"Link, are you okay?" The Goron shouted at him from the top of the ladder.

"I think so." Holding on with one hand, Link drew his sword with the other and stabbed at one of the bats, severing a wing. Some of the others scattered, leaving him with a better view of what awaited below.

He dropped to the bottom with a clamor, leaving the panicked Goron behind.

"Look," said Navi.

There was a door a few feet away. It had a face at the top of it, molded in stone, staring at him. He entered with only a slight shiver.

The next room was even larger. Three iron furnaces shaped like heads guarded the top of a stairway at the back of the room.

More doors to the left and right of the furnaces offered him a choice he scarcely knew how to make, but the bats diving in on his right flank made it for him. They chased him up the stairway and forced him to head for the door on the left. He yanked it open with a squeal of rust and slammed it behind him just as several bodies collided against it.

"Too close." Wiping more sweat from his forehead, he blinked as his eyes adjusted to their surroundings. A boiling lake of magma lay just a few short steps away.

"Who's there? Is that you, Link?"

He jumped at the unexpected shout. Such a voice could hardly be mistaken, and it had clearly intended to address him. He peered farther into the cavern, across the lake, until he could discern the form of the speaker.

King Darunia beat his chest with a thunderous laugh. "How long has it been, Brother?"

Link smiled at the memory of their first meeting. "Seven years."

"What kept you away for so long?"

"Sleep, mostly." He shrugged at Darunia's puzzled expression. "It's a long story."

"I guess you've heard about the dragon by now."

Link nodded. "I met your son."

"And did he tell you about the hammer?"

Navi brightened. "You mean the hammer that defeated the dragon the first time?"

"That's it. We've kept it here for centuries—and now it's gone missing!"

Link frowned, trying to pierce through the blank look on Darunia's face. "You've given up looking for it, haven't you?"

"I had to, Brother. If I don't kill the dragon soon, my people will perish. But it may be the only weapon that _can_ kill him. That's why I need you and your fairy to find it while I go on ahead."

Link glanced at Navi. "We can't let you face him alone."

"You can and you will, because it's the only choice we have." Darunia hurled something across the lake that gleamed as it flew.

Link caught it. "A key?"

"Only three of those exist. You can use it to open any lock inside the Fire Temple."

Link pocketed the key. "Stay alive, Brother, and we'll be back with the hammer."

"I know you will."

* * *

The giant lizard barked, a humorous sound that belied its true nature. Turning away from the cell, it flapped an arm to summon reinforcements.

The Master Sword cleaved the outstretched limb at the elbow, severing it from the rest of the body. Clutching at its stump, the creature screamed as black blood gushed over the floor.

Navi squealed as she dodged the lizard's teeth. "That'll teach them not to pester people."

Link swung his sword over his head with both hands as if chopping wood. The blade sheared through the lizard's snout and drew a wide black gash down the center of its chest.

Two bodies now littered the floor at his feet, both lizards. He closed his eyes and breathed in slowly, curbing his adrenaline as Impa had taught him.

The Goron in the cell approached the bars cautiously. "You carry the shield of a Knight of Hyrule. I thought such skill with a blade had disappeared."

Link unlocked the cell with Darunia's key and offered his hand. "Barough?"

The Goron stared. "That is my name, but how do you know it?"

Navi giggled. "He's Link, the legendary Dodongo Buster!"

The Goron's face lit up. "Link. The boy who shared a Tektite with me once. Have you returned to help us again?"

"I've already seen Darunia," Link said. "He asked us to find the hammer that defeated the dragon."

"Why didn't he come with you?" Barough found the answer to his question in the sorrow on Link's face. "No, he can't. Not by himself. Not without the hammer!"

"You know him better than anyone. I would have gone with him, but…"

"But his skull is harder than a granite sandwich."

"Something like that."

* * *

In the course of their search, Barough and Link freed many of the other captives. A few refused to leave their cells until they were certain the dragon had been killed. Some offered their help, but Link sent them back to Goron City to prepare a defense in case he and Darunia failed in their efforts.

Of course, not all of the captives could be persuaded to leave. Link reluctantly accepted the company of Barough's sons, Stonethrower and Mountainfoot. With the two younger Gorons behind him and Barough and Navi leading the way, he covered the better part of the temple in a matter of two hours, with still no sign of the hammer by the end of it.

"Some of the monsters have been carrying weapons," said Stonethrower. "Maybe one of them took it."

Mountainfoot, munching on a stone, grunted. "Maybe we should separate."

Link shook his head. "Too dangerous."

A series of inhuman growls and hissing brought the party to a halt. Three lizards of the same species that had guarded Barough's cell had stepped out of a side room to block their way onward. All three carried hammers.

Link nodded. "What about those?"

"I have never seen the hammer," Barough said, "but there is a way to find out."

Barough and his sons charged straight into the lizards, each giving a battle cry that begged Din's vengeance for their people. When the lizards came at them with clumsy hammer blows, each Goron grabbed his foe's weapon and battered the monster to the ground with it.

Barough turned the bloodied head of his hammer over several times before looking up. "This is good iron, the work of a Goron craftsman."

"But it's not _the_ hammer." Link knelt by the bodies, a look of wonder on his face. "I still don't understand what makes it different. Couldn't we use one of those instead?"

"They say the craftsman who forged the hero's hammer had some of Din's Fire in his arms. If one of these had been it, you wouldn't be able to recognize your enemy's remains."

"Gross," said Navi.

More hissing and growling came from the direction of the side room. Link drew the Master Sword and fitted his right arm through his shield's straps while the others fanned out in a half-circle around him. A horde made up of lizards and several undead skeletons like the ones he had encountered in the Forest Temple poured through the doorway.

Navi squealed. "Do you think _they'll_ recognize _our_ remains?"

Link ignored her as he slashed a lizard across the neck and turned to carve a bloody diagonal line on the chest of another. There was very little time to think, and he quickly became separated from the others.

The sound of metal scraping metal and the thump of hammer against flesh filled the air, but it was the smell of the monsters' blood and breath mingled that proved the most distracting.

A hand flew past Link's cheek. He spun to find Stonethrower contending with a skeleton much larger than himself. A giant hammer filled the skeleton's arms, slowing it down.

With his shield, Link smashed the teeth of a lizard that was trying to gnaw on his head. With his sword, he cut beneath the shield and opened the lizard's stomach. Pushing the body out of his path, he worked his way over to Stonethrower.

The skeleton now had a clear shot at Stonethrower. The Goron, about half the height of his assailant, waited until the skeleton had lifted the hammer above its head. Then he crushed its wrists with his smaller hammer.

The head of the giant hammer dropped, shattering the skeleton's cranium. A lizard tried to grab the hammer as it fell, but someone else snapped the lizard's elbow before it could get at the weapon.

Barough caught the hero's hammer with both hands and turned it on a gang of lizards. One unfortunate creature, unable to leap back in time, took the full brunt of the hammer on its jawbone.

The other lizards held back, too wary of Barough to notice the threat from their rear. Mountainfoot managed to crack one of the lizards' skulls with his hammer before the rest of them scattered, some throwing themselves at Barough, some attacking Link or Mountainfoot.

Link finished the lizard with the broken jaw before it could claw Barough in its death throes, but the Goron was already in the middle of a brawl over the hero's hammer. Four lizards had jumped on him, two grabbing at the hammer while the others bit at his neck.

Link threw down his sword and shield and seized the hammer as it rolled away from beneath the lizards' legs. Though the strain drove the breath from his lungs, he whipped the hammer around and slammed it into another lizard without wounding himself in the process.

The remaining lizards, under the combined onslaught of Link and the two younger Gorons, soon fled, died, or fell wounded. It was Link who landed the final blow with the hero's hammer, pulping the face of one lizard that had sunk its teeth into Barough's neck.

"Tell Darunia I will save the best rock in Din's realm to share with him when he gets there."

"Don't be ridiculous." Link pressed his hands to Barough's neck, hoping he could slow the bleeding. He turned to the wide-eyed sons. "Do your people have a healer?"

Stonethrower answered without looking away from his father's body. "Several of our people have great skill, but I don't think they've seen anything like…like this."

Mountainfoot clenched his fists. "I will search for one among those in the city." He peered at the hero's hammer lying on the ground beside Link. "You will help us best, Dodongo Slayer, by bringing the hammer to Uncle Darunia."

Link glanced at both brothers, the one a picture of dejection, the other a picture of courage. Both reminded him of himself. "Your father will survive," he whispered. "I know it."

"And what will that matter," said Mountainfoot, "unless you and Uncle Darunia kill the dragon?"

* * *

**I know at least one of you out there is a LOTR fan, so you'll appreciate my releasing Chapters 26 and 27 on the birthday of Frodo Baggins and his uncle, Bilbo ;-). Incidentally, my own 27th birthday was yesterday, too! Yay, extra rupees!**

**I hope it's safe to say that if you've made it _this_ far and enjoyed yourself, you won't be disappointed with the _rest _of the story. The additions get a little more, shall we say, _imaginative_ as the story goes on, especially after the final temple. But I hope you will never find _anything_ here that's untrue to the spirit of the legend we all love...**

**Until next time!**


	29. Sworn Brothers

Chapter 28: Sworn Brothers

_Swaddled in flames, it came gliding and flexing  
__and racing towards its fate._

_~Beowulf_

* * *

Volvagia, spawn of earth and fire, roared as his serpent-like body coiled in flight, surrounding his intended prey. Unlike the other Gorons, this one had sustained its resistance for hours, throwing great boulders, punching and throttling with its arms, and foiling every attempt to corner it. But such constant activity came at a price, and at last the creature was failing.

"I'm sorry, Brother."

The dragon's coils pressed against Darunia's body, squeezing the breath of life from his lungs. The flames that danced on the dragon's hide licked at the edges of his face, and overhead, the shadow of the dragon's mouth closed in. He could feel its hot breath on his neck and hear its saliva hiss as it ran down his chest.

Darunia chuckled, but the sound came out as a gasp. Here he was, in his last moments, when he might have been thinking of his family or his people. Instead, he dreamt he heard the voice of a fairy. He dreamt he heard the sound of a heavy weight cleaving the air. He dreamt that weight broke the dragon's hold on his body.

He dreamt.

* * *

Despite the hole it left in his defenses, Link carried the hammer with both hands, as it would have been impossible to carry otherwise. He reached the dragon's lair with little incident, finding it just beyond the cavern where he had met Darunia.

The lair consisted of a flat island of rock surrounded by great gashes in the earth that boiled with lava. Every few minutes, a stalactite broke loose from the ceiling and crashed onto the island.

Though well aware of the dangers, Link jumped across an eight-foot gap to the island of rock and dashed forward. The dragon blinked its bulbous eyes at him, and a blast of superheated air spewed from its mouth. Rather than heed the warning, Link spun around in a complete circle to gather momentum before hurling the hammer at the dragon's head.

With its coils firmly pressed against Darunia's body, the dragon could hardly have evaded the stroke. The hammer's head struck it a sound blow on the muzzle, cracking bone and cartilage. When the dragon roared, several stalactites broke at once, crashing down on the island near Link and making it difficult to retrieve the hammer.

"Watch out, Brother!"

Link swerved away at the last possible moment, saving himself from a jet of flame discharged by a wounded and very angry Volvagia. In turning its attention on him, the dragon had loosened its grip on Darunia, allowing the King just enough oxygen to use his voice.

Link scooped up the hammer, but before he could land another blow, Volvagia soared into the air, barreling towards the wall of the cavern. The thought that the dragon might actually be trying to escape—that it might have _recognized_ the hammer—gave him pause.

Without considering just what he intended to do, he leapt and caught the dragon's tail. Climbing onto the scaly back, he clamped his legs against its sides for balance and raised the hammer above his head. The dragon growled and began to spin in midair.

The heat became unbearable. Knowing he would never be able to hold on, Link relaxed his muscles and prepared to slide off while the dragon still hovered over the island.

Something glinted at the corner of his vision. He looked up, startled by his own reflection in Volvagia's eyes, but the surprise turned to wonder when he saw the reflection behind his.

"Hey, listen!"

Navi smacked into Volvagia's left eye with the speed of a Deku Seed hurled from a slingshot. The dragon writhed and flung Link off awkwardly, so that instead of landing on his feet, he crashed onto the island back first.

_Good idea, Navi, but your timing could have been better._ He tried to sit up, but nausea kept him rooted to the rock.

That was when he realized he had lost the hammer.

"It's just you and me again, hell-breather," he heard someone say behind him. Forcing himself to rise, he turned to see a sight worthy of a myth or a bard's tale. Darunia, wielding the hammer of his forebear, glared defiance at the dragon as it honed in on him, sailing down from above with its fiery mane trailing behind it.

The dragon had opened its mouth to devour, but the King of the Gorons simply stood there, waiting. Finally, when the dragon was within a few feet and the first hint of a flame had begun to show at the back of its throat, Darunia dashed forward, braving the threat of its jaws, and shattered its lower teeth with the hammer.

"Go," Navi said. "He needs your help!"

"I doubt it," Link said. Nevertheless, he drew his sword and charged.

The glow at the back of the dragon's throat continued to grow brighter. Darunia ignored it. Link jumped onto the head and stabbed through the back of the dragon's neck, penetrating the windpipe so that the flames, instead of engulfing Darunia, passed on either side of him, parted by the Master Sword.

Darunia's first swing crumpled the dragon's nose. He followed up with a shot between the eyes, then he paused. "I am Darunia, big boss of the Gorons, descendant of heroes, and I say, you will kill my people no more!"

An unmistakable crack marked the success of his aim. Link saw the dragon's brutish expression give way, almost immediately, to an eerie sadness that remained even after the life had departed its body.

The fight had ended so abruptly that the three of them—Darunia, Link, and Navi—were silent for a long time.

"Do you think it was really evil," said Navi at last, hovering over the dragon's head, "or did Ganondorf _make_ it hurt the Gorons?"

Darunia scowled. "Volvagia has been a scourge on our race since before Ganondorf was thought of."

Link carefully extracted his sword from the dragon's body. "You said everyone thought Volvagia was dead. Maybe he _was,_ but that means someone had to bring him back. Who do you think would have the power to do something like that?"

Darunia's scowl deepened. "The same person who closed up Dodongo's Cavern…"

* * *

_Somehow, I find my way to the Sacred Realm again—or more specifically, to the Chamber of Sages. Did we really kill Volvagia? For a moment, I wonder if I imagined the battle in the Fire Temple. It's the same feeling I get every time I come here, as if something is just a little out of place._

_ Rauru and Saria are nowhere to be found. I'm alone with Navi and my Sworn Brother, Darunia._

_"I want to thank you, Brother, on behalf of the entire Goron race. That's twice you've saved us." Darunia grins, something I would have found frightening as a child. "I wondered what it would be like, the day we met again. You turned out to be a real man, just as I thought you would."_

_ "Ahem," Navi says._

_ "I haven't forgotten you, fairy. You deserve our thanks for watching over him."_

_ "It wasn't easy."_

_ I smile. "You were the one who knew how to use the hammer."_

_Darunia chuckles. "To think that when we first met, I could only greet you with anger. Now, thanks to your efforts, my people can live in peace. Of course, that peace won't last long unless we defeat Ganondorf."_

_I'm sure my confusion is showing on my face. "We?"_

_Darunia's chuckle becomes a roar of laughter. "Yes, we, Brother. It turns out I'm one of the Six Sages: the Sage of Fire, no less!"_

_ I nod. "That does seem to fit you pretty well."_

_ "That's true. It does mean that I'll be away from Goron City for a while, but Barough can take care of things while I'm gone, assuming he survives." The King grunts. "Meantime, his sons will represent him."_

_ "I never told you he had been wounded."_

_ "I'm a Sage now. That means I know almost everything going on in my realm."_

_ This makes my thoughts turn to what lies ahead. Rauru, Saria, Darunia. Three more Sages have to be wakened. Who are they? And where is Zelda? Why is it so dangerous for me to know where she is?_

_Darunia's voice returns me to the present. "Take this!" I feel something drop into my outstretched palms. It's a red Medallion with the image of a three-tongue flame._

_ Darunia continues. "It contains the power of the fire spirits, but more importantly, it contains my friendship. Use it wisely."_

_ There are other things I want to ask him, other things I want to say, but I feel the haze of this dream, if it is a dream, begin to fade as I gaze at the Medallion. Scattered images of my life in Hyrule flit in and out of my brain, out of control._

_ "Don't forget," someone says, but the voice is faint and fading fast. "You and I are now true brothers."_

* * *

Afternoon had aged into evening by the time Link wandered back into Kakariko Village from the Death Mountain trail. Thankfully, Impa had left him with enough food to last another day, but cold ham, hard bread, and water couldn't tell him which way to go from Goron City.

Navi perched on his shoulder as they entered the village square. "Sheik would know."

"Sheik's not here." Link rolled his eyes.

"Well, how am I supposed to know where the next temple is? I'm not a goddess."

"You don't have to tell me that."

"And _you_ don't have to be rude about it."

Link opened his mouth as if to say something else, but he stopped. A flash of overalls in the crowd and a fat face had triggered several memories from his childhood. He turned to watch as the man passed.

Navi perked up. "Hey. Isn't that…"

A name rose to the tip of Link's tongue. "Talon."

The man glanced around nervously as if he had heard them. His eyes were red and his mustache unkempt. Though still heavyset, he appeared to have lost some weight. Nothing of the jolly exterior remained. If it hadn't been for the face and the clothing, Link would scarcely have recognized him.

"Maybe we should follow him," Navi said.

"Why?" Link shrugged.

"He looks upset. Maybe he's in trouble."

"We don't have time."

"You have any better ideas? Sheik seems to be able to find us when he wants to."

Link sighed and continued to watch as Talon slipped through the crowd, moving towards a dingy building at the edge of the square. A sign hanging from a chain above the door marked it as the Golden Rupee.

"I remember that place." Link waited until Talon had closed the door of the tavern behind him before he followed. "It's where we saw Ingo."

"That man who worked for him."

"Yeah." Link turned the handle on the door and entered the common room of the tavern. Immediately, the smell of sweat, ale, and smoke from cheap oil lamps hammered his nostrils. He looked for Talon among the sea of grizzled faces.

It wasn't hard to find him. Climbing onto a table in the middle of the room, Talon shouted at the top of his lungs. "He's got her, I tell you. He's got my baby cooped up in the stables with the horses while he sleeps in the house. He feeds her bread and a little bit of milk when she's lucky, and he makes her do all the work. He—"

Navi whispered to Link. "What's he talking about?"

"His baby?" Link shook his head. "Maybe he means his daughter, Malon." He noted that a majority of the other patrons paid more mind to their drinks and their conversations than they paid to Talon, as if they had heard it all before.

A young man seated at a table near Talon tossed a half-chewed chicken leg in his direction. "Ah, shut up, will you? If you're so worried about her, why don't you go get her yourself?"

Talon moaned and covered his face with his hands. "I told you, I told you. He's got the place covered by those Gerudos day and night. It'd take a posse to bring Malon out of there."

Link raised his voice above the clamor. _"Who's_ got the place covered by Gerudos?"

Talon spoke without looking at him. "It's Ingo! Doesn't anyone listen to what I've been trying to get across the last…how long has it been now? Oh, Malon!"

Navi hovered behind Link, keeping out of sight. "Why don't they help him?"

Link bit his lip. "The Gerudos destroyed Hyrule Castle Town. No one wants to make them angry."

A barrel-chested man, probably the innkeeper, helped Talon down to the floor. "Come on. I'll take you to Eudora's."

Link closed his eyes. "Navi, do you remember what happened the night we stayed at the ranch?"

"Ingo tried to run away with a horse," Navi said. "We thought he might have been helping the Gerudos."

"It looks like we were right. We should have said something to Talon."

"It's not your fault. The Gerudos could have taken over the ranch without Ingo's help."

"Maybe." Link clenched his fists. "All I know is, someone has to help Malon…"


	30. Farm Girl

Chapter 29: Farm Girl

_But, treat him allus good and kind,  
__And never strike him with a stick,  
__Nor aggervate him, and you'll find  
__He'll never do a hostile trick._

~"The Hoss," James Whitcomb Riley

* * *

Malon hummed as she worked in the barn, tackling the endless string of chores Ingo threw her way. First, she had milked and fed the cows. Then she had shoveled hay for an hour before gathering eggs. Then she had fed the pigs. And the horses. And the chickens.

"That's it!"

The humming stopped when she threw a pitchfork against the wall, scattering the hens. Bitterness rose in her throat. She kicked the milk pail over, soaking the floor, then she picked up a handful of hay and tossed it at one of the pigs, causing the animal to sneeze.

The barn door opened with a creak, and Ingo strutted in like a nervous rooster that sees the farmer coming with an axe. He stopped, eyeing the chaos of misplaced tools, hay, and the overturned milk pail.

"What's this?" He scowled.

Malon almost regretted her actions, but the backlash that had been building over the last few weeks had already stoked a fire in her cheeks. "I'm not working for you anymore."

Ingo's color rose to match hers. "We have guests who are interested in buying. You'll ride Epona to show them how well we breed our animals." He pointed a finger at her. "And she'd better behave, or you'll spend the next month in here, eating hay and sleeping in manure."

_I'm already doing that, _she thought. What she said was, "They're Gerudos, aren't they?"

Ingo threw up his hands. "Who else has any money these days?"

She took a deep breath. "No."

His eyes narrowed. "No what?"

"I won't ride for your customers, especially if they're Gerudos!"

Ingo's face turned purple. "Why, you!"

Malon snatched the upturned milk pail in time to block Ingo's fist. The metal rang with the impact. She threw the pail aside, grabbed his bruised fist, and bit it. Hard.

Ingo tore his hand away and dove for the pitchfork. Before he could get at it, she jumped on his back and hooked her arms around his neck, cutting off his oxygen.

"You…you'll get us both killed, you wretch." He backed up against the wall and slammed her into it, breaking her grip.

Her hand went for the pitchfork, but he slapped her arm away, and the two of them pummeled each other with abandon, knocking stools, tools, and chickens aside, rolling in the hay, stumbling past the horses and cows, kicking and scratching, biting and clawing, bleeding and bruising in a brawl to rival any riot at the Golden Rupee.

* * *

Outside, the Gerudos waited in the yard by the corral. Loud thumps had been coming from the barn for the past five minutes, but they made no move to investigate. They knew very well that Malon, the former owner's daughter, was not as cooperative as Ingo had made her out to be.

"If that fool does not quicken his pace..."

There were four of them. The one who had spoken folded her arms and scowled at the barn door. The other three traded knowing glances.

Three minutes later, the thumps quieted, and the barn door creaked open tentatively. Ingo shuffled out, dragging Malon by the arm. His hair was full of hay, and the scratches on his face dripped bright red blood on his overalls.

Malon, though sporting a black eye and several bruised ribs, smiled at the looks the women gave Ingo. "I think they're impressed."

"Shut up, you." Ingo hissed in her ear, then straightened, trying his best fake grin on the Gerudos. "I apologize for the delay."

"You were informed of our visit a week ago," their leader said, fingering the hilt of one of her scimitars. "You should have been ready."

The grin faltered, but Ingo was wise enough to ignore the remark. "I believe you'll find the merchandise well worth the wait."

"We will see."

They turned to face the corral, and Ingo jerked on Malon's arm. This time, she refused to budge.

"If you don't get moving…" Ingo growled in her face. "Your father won't just be a widower. He'll be _childless_."

With a trace of her girlhood impishness, Malon spat in his face. "So get it over with."

The Gerudo leader, tiring of the game, stalked over and clutched a fistful of Malon's red hair. With the other hand, she drew a scimitar and held it against Malon's stomach. "Worthless rat."

A shout came from the roof of the barn. _"Drop the sword!"_

Everyone in the yard froze. The Gerudo leader's eyes swung to the barn, where a figure in bright red held an arrow strung and aimed at her neck.

Ingo stared, mouth agape. "What in tarnation?"

The Gerudo twisted Malon around so that the young woman's body stood between her and the arrowhead. "I welcome your shot."

Link never flinched. With one eye closed, he focused on the situation at hand as Impa had taught him, and the arrow flew, spearing through the Gerudo's sword arm. "Run!"

Malon stamped the Gerudo's foot and made as if to grab the sword from her limp arms. Before she could, one of the woman's companions rushed forward, knocking her senseless with a spinning kick to the head.

Link jumped from the roof and relieved another woman of her weapon. By this time, everyone had had plenty of time to react. The four Gerudos surrounded Link and Malon quickly, while Ingo sneered from the perimeter.

"Who are you to harm the friends of the King of Hyrule?" Ingo spat.

"I _am _a friend of the King of Hyrule. He died seven years ago." Link drew the Master Sword and moved back-to-back with Malon as she regained her feet. "If Ganondorf is a King, it is only a King of Evil."

The barb had the expected effect: all four Gerudos charged at once. Link whipped the King's shield out in a tight circuit, braining two of his opponents into unconsciousness with the broad flat surface. The third—the woman he had shot—fell when he smacked her skull with the hilt of his sword after a brief tussle.

The fourth woman slowed, seeing her comrades drop. She frowned, gauging the wisdom of a one-on-one duel with this stranger. Malon took the decision from her with a pole to the back of the head.

At the sight of Ingo cowering next to the barn, Link smiled. "Malon? Is there anything you'd like to say?"

Ingo stood up, trembling as Malon approached him. "Miss Malon? I'm sorry for—"

Ignoring the pain in her body, Malon slapped him. "That's for taking over my _father's_ ranch and keeping the two of us apart for so long."

Ingo blinked, unsurprised at her boldness. "I probably deserved that."

"You sure did." Malon punched him full on, knocking him against the side of the barn, unconscious. _"That_ was for the horses." The sight of him lying there, splayed like a scarecrow that had fallen over in a field, made her giggle for the first time in six months.

Link cocked an eyebrow but said nothing. Despite the advantage of working together, it took them a half-hour to drag Ingo and all four Gerudos to the barn and tie them up properly.

Malon sighed. "What say we go get some milk, fairy boy?"

They made their way out of the barn, into the house. Link waited in the kitchen while Malon disappeared upstairs. She returned wearing a clean top and a clean skirt, her hair combed and free of hay and other signs of roughhousing.

"You look different," Navi said.

Malon blushed. "Thanks to Link." She set a cold bottle of milk on the table and two pewter mugs from a cabinet by the window. "That's twice he's saved my life."

Link sat down, refusing to look at her. "They came for me, you remember."

"The first time, yes." She poured the milk out and handed him a mug. "What about this time?"

Link took a sip of his milk and focused on a knot in the table, wondering if he had done the right thing. He had gone out of his way to come for her, but to what end? Seven years ago, he had almost been killed trying to save an innocent girl from being trampled on the cobblestone of Hyrule Castle Town. What reward had there been in that? Why did he do these things?

_Because I don't want others to suffer what I've suffered. _A sudden thought occurred to him. "What happened to the horses?"

Malon smiled sadly. "Ingo sold most of them to the Gerudos. He said it was his duty to Ganondorf for allowing him to keep the ranch."

"So many?"

"Some of them were stolen, too, usually right before the Gerudos showed up. They blamed it on Ingo, and Ingo blamed it on me, even though we both knew who had taken them."

Link stared into his mug, lost in thought.

Malon looked at him. "Are you alright, fairy boy? You've hardly touched your milk."

He shook his head. "It's hard to think straight."

"I know." She slid a hand across the table. "I waited so long for you to come back."

_That's not what I meant._ He took a deep breath. Maybe this _had_ been a mistake.

Navi, sensing his discomfort, perked up. "Was that Epona the Gerudos were looking at? You remember her, don't you, Link?"

Link nodded. "She's grown into a fine horse."

Malon's eyes flashed in the sunlight streaming through the window. "She's yours."

Link set his mug down. "Malon…"

A blow to the door of the house shook them awake. Certain the Gerudos had escaped, they hurried to bar the door.

"Ingo, I know you're in there." _Thump, thump._ "Come on out, and bring my Malon with you!"

"Dad?" Malon's eyes widened.

The door burst open. Talon stood in the yard with a small crowd of men, some of whom Link recognized from the Golden Rupee.

At first, no one said anything. Surprise seemed to paralyze both sides.

"Who's he?" One of the men from the village waved a torch. "He doesn't look Gerudo."

Link bowed his head slightly. "The Gerudos are in the barn. They won't be bothering anyone for a while."

Talon held still for a moment longer before running into the house to bury his face in Malon's hair. "I'm so sorry, sweetheart. It's okay. It's over now." Tears ran down his face and onto his arms, mingling with hers. Neither moved or spoke for a long time after that.

Navi brushed Link's ear. "Shouldn't we check on the Gerudos?"

Link nodded and slipped into the crowd waiting in the yard with one last glance at Malon and Talon. "They have a lot to catch up on."

* * *

Once things had quieted down at the ranch, Link reluctantly agreed to a meal and a bed for the night, since he had yet to find out the location of the next temple. The villagers who had marched over with Talon left pulling the Gerudos behind them, but Talon declined their offer to take Ingo, insisting that he and Malon would deal with him first.

Link slept fitfully, thinking over Malon's thinly disguised confession that her childhood feelings for him had grown with her. Though he hated himself for it, he found that the prospect of a relationship that he need not wait for appealed to him on some level. When his duties were through and Hyrule was safe, would it be so bad to return to the ranch and lead a quiet life with Malon, he wondered? Zelda might never come back, even if she _was_ alive.

The absurdity of that last thought eventually woke him, and for a while, all he could do was stare at the wall beyond the foot of the bed. Then a shadow moved in the dark, drawing his gaze. Suddenly, he berated himself for sending Navi into the yard to watch for intruders.

The figure clung to the shadows, saying nothing. Two eyes watched Link as if they were bound to him by some invisible cord, but their expression was unreadable.

Link swallowed and clutched the sheets to his chest. "How long have you been standing there?"

"You have stayed too long," Sheik whispered, "as have I."

"I didn't know where else to go. I had to help them."

"Your compassion may do Malon and her father more harm than good. The Gerudos will return eventually, in force."

"Is that what you came here to tell me?"

"No. You must leave for Zora's Domain immediately. The Sage of Water is in peril."

Link broke out in a sweat. The thought of leaving in the middle of the night without an adequate recovery made him feel nauseous. "Even the Hero of Time has a body that needs rest."

Sheik leaned over the bedside and touched Link's forehead. Link felt the fatigue in his mind and body draining away as if he had had a full night's rest.

"Sheik, I left my best friend once without saying goodbye. I don't want to do that to Malon and Talon."

Sheik nodded. "I will explain your absence. Before you go, will you also learn another of the sacred melodies?"

Link rolled over on the bed, groping for the Ocarina of Time. "I thought you were going to say that."

Sheik strummed his harp as he talked. "Did you come here to save a friend, or is the girl more than a friend?"

Link frowned. "I'm not sure how to answer that."

Sheik continued strumming, saying nothing. Suddenly, his voice rose.

"Time passes, people move. Like a river's flow, it never ends. A childish mind turns to noble ambition. Young love becomes deep affection. The clear water's surface reflects growth. Listen to the Serenade of Water."

The melody softened, and this time Link followed it on the Ocarina.

_Young love becomes deep affection._ Those words stayed with him long after he had forgotten the rest of Sheik's strange aphorisms.

* * *

Less than an hour later, with dawn still a distant prospect, Malon padded into the kitchen for a drink. Long hours and hard work had rarely bothered her, but having Link around certainly did. She couldn't remember the last time she had felt so restless.

She found the letter sitting on the kitchen table. She didn't even have to read it. The fact that it was there could only mean one thing.

He was gone.

Still in her bedclothes, she slammed the mug of water down and scrambled towards the staircase leading to her father's room. _If he thinks he'll get rid of me that easily…_

* * *

**Can you tell I had fun selecting the quotes that lead off most of my chapters? Let's see, we've had Shigeru Miyamoto, C.S. Lewis, Shakespeare, J.M. Barrie, Susan Cooper, The Bible, Homer, Tolkien, R.D. Blackmore, "The Story of Stone Soup," Juvenal, _Beowulf,_ and James Whitcomb Riley, among others. And it's not over yet! Hey, cribbing zingers and profound thoughts from the Great Authors of the past is a hallowed tradition! James Fenimore Cooper, author of _The Last of the Mohicans,_ borrowed 395 quotes from Shakespeare for his Leatherstocking Tales about the early history of the United States. Not that I would _ever_ bother to research the exact number. What do you take me for, a literature otaku? Psssh.**

**Anyway, only three more temples to go before we reach the home stretch. I hope everyone here can swim, because our next destination is arguably the most infamous temple in the entire Zelda _series_. Hopefully, reading about it won't be nearly as frustrating an experience as it was _playing_ it for the first time...**


	31. The Water Temple

Chapter 30: The Water Temple

_Knowing your own darkness is the best method  
__for dealing with the darknesses of other people._

~Carl Jung

* * *

Epona's hooves chewed a trail in the ground northeast from Lon Lon Ranch to Zora's River. Link made no attempt to disguise that trail, knowing that if someone decided to follow it, there was little he could do to discourage them.

Regret at taking Epona in such a way discouraged him, though Malon had offered to let him keep her. Still, the fastest way to the Zoras' kingdom was on horseback, and if the Sage of Water needed him, he had no other choice.

"Link, do you remember the story of how Din and her sisters created Hyrule?"

As they passed the ruins of Hyrule Castle Town, Link struggled to keep his attention on where they were going. "Of course I remember."

"Do you think Ganondorf believes that story?"

"Maybe he's never heard it." Link shrugged. "Why?"

"I think he has. Everyone in Hyrule probably knows it somehow." Navi's tone was strangely thoughtful. "But I don't think he believes it. He believes in the Triforce's power, but if he really believed the goddesses had made Hyrule and that they cared what everyone does in it, I think he'd be afraid."

"Sometimes a person believes what they want to believe," Link said, gripping Epona's reins tighter. "I think he takes what he can and tries to forget there might be someone out there who will punish him for everything he does."

"Wouldn't that be terrible for him to find out the stories were true?"

As the river came into sight, Link slowed to gaze at the water. "Yes," he whispered absentmindedly. "Yes, it would."

The air was surprisingly cold, the water far more sluggish than it should have been. Epona whickered uncomfortably as he forded across to the bank that would take them to Zora's Domain.

"He's done something here, too," Link said.

* * *

From their expressions, it appeared the end had come suddenly. Most of the Zoras had been caught in the middle of their everyday activities. Adults and children alike were frozen in sheets of ice that choked the entire cavern.

Navi kept her voice low as if afraid she'd disturb them. "Are they dead?"

Link shook his head. "I don't know."

"What if one of them is the Sage of Water?"

"There's no way to know that until we do what we have to do at the temple."

By that time, they had been in the domain for a quarter of an hour at least. So far, not a sound had greeted them, but as they neared the throne room, they heard a blubbering voice that seemed vaguely familiar.

"Oh Ruto, Ruto. Gone again. Darling daughter. What a handful she is."

At one time, King Zora had been snared in the ice with the rest of his people, but he had gotten out of it somehow—and recently, since the remains of his frozen prison were scattered in chunks around his royal seat.

Link helped the King to a sitting position. "We've met before, Your Majesty. My name is Link."

"Oh dear. Are you the boy who rescued my Ruto? I thought I recognized you. What a fine young man you've become. But you should have returned much sooner, Link."

"I'm sorry. Can you tell us what happened here?"

The King jiggled nervously. "It was Morpha."

Navi flew closer, hovering near the King's stomach. "Who's Morpha?"

"Morpha was a demon our ancestors once imprisoned at the bottom of Lake Hylia. It is said he had the power to control the weather."

Link frowned. "He created the ice?"

"Yes, but I'm afraid it was that man Ganondorf who freed him. It was strange, too, because this time Ganondorf didn't ask for anything, like our Spiritual Stone. He just freed the demon, and the demon seized control of Lake Hylia, killing our fish and plants."

"It looks like your people didn't have time to realize anything was happening. How did you find out?"

"Ruto saw the demon out on the lake just before it happened, so she was also one of the first to be trapped in the ice. Someone named Sheik freed her, and she came here to tell me."

"Where is she now?"

"She believes the demon will make his lair in the Water Temple now that he's free. I didn't want her to go, but she insisted. She said we had to be free of Morpha once and for all."

"We have to follow her _now, _Link," Navi whispered. "Use the Ocarina!"

* * *

What had once been Hyrule's greatest body of water was now little more than a bowl of earth hundreds of feet in diameter, with perhaps twenty feet of water remaining at the distant bottom. Sheik stood on an island in the middle of the lake, facing west. Behind him, a chiming split the air, and a strange flash of light came and was gone like lightning.

"When you told me I could use the sacred melodies to reach the temples, I didn't believe it at first."

Sheik turned to face the stone at the center of the island, a stone inscribed with the image of the Triforce. "It is well you should make use of the Ocarina of Time. It may yet prove a more valuable tool against evil than the Master Sword."

Link stepped away from the Triforce stone, still recovering from the dizziness of a near-instantaneous journey from Zora's Domain. He approached the edge of the island until he stood beside Sheik. "The entrance to the Water Temple?"

Sheik nodded at the bottom of the lake.

Link flinched at the hundred-foot drop. "And how do I get there without killing myself?"

"The ability to breathe underwater will be crucial."

Link snorted. "That won't be a problem, as long as I don't have to stay underwater for more than three seconds."

"I know," Navi said. "You're going to turn Link into a Zora!"

"That would be beyond my abilities." Sheik folded his arms. "A tunic like the one you wore in Death Mountain, but with a different magic embedded in its fabric, would serve just as well."

"A tunic to keep me from drowning?" Link guessed.

"Precisely."

* * *

The water hit Link with a terrible slap. He had kept his eyes open as long as he could, hoping he would land in the deepest part of the lake. Bubbles foamed around him. He held his breath, not quite ready to trust his life to the Zora Tunic, as Sheik had called it. For now, it was enough that he find the entrance to the Water Temple.

Disoriented, he swam forward, only to bump his head against the bottom of the lake as it sloped upwards from the island. Had he jumped a little further, or fallen in with just a little more force, he realized, he would have been smashed on the lakebed.

Ignoring the sting, he opened his eyes just long enough to get his bearings and found that he could see clearly—more clearly, in fact, than he had ever seen in the water before.

_Okay. Let's get it over with._ He exhaled and breathed in, half-expecting to drown. Instead, he felt oxygen penetrate his lungs, though the water itself never did more than dampen his nostrils.

Grinning, he kicked his arms and legs into action. Now that he was confident of his newfound ability to survive underwater, he had no need to shut his eyes against imaginary fears.

It didn't take him long after that to find the entrance he sought.

At first, he assumed the light in the water came from the moon. But the further he swam, the more the light increased, making that explanation unlikely. He could see details in the Water Temple's stones, details so fine that he knew, somehow, it was the tunic allowing him that sight.

"I hate water. It feels getting your wings caught in tree sap."

Link was about to reply when it occurred to him that he shouldn't have been able to understand Navi's words in the first place. "You can breathe?"

"It's easy once you learn how," Navi said.

"I mean underwater."

"Oh. Weird!"

"The tunic must be affecting you, too. I guess we're more connected than I thought."

"Scary."

"You don't have to tell _me _that."

Finally, he climbed out of the water onto a narrow ledge overlooking a cavern; judging by the size of it, he had reached the Water Temple's main concourse. It contained three stories spaced equally apart. Only the upper story, where Link stood, remained dry.

"I don't even know what a demon looks like," Navi said.

"It's hard when you've never met one before." Link eyed the bottom two floors, made his decision, and jumped. A flash of something metallic had caught his attention.

"Wait for me…behind you!"

Link heeded the warning too late. Something rammed him in the back, hard enough to pierce him through had he not been wearing his shield. The collision sent him spinning through the water, fumbling for a weapon, any weapon.

The first thing he pulled out was the Hookshot, the iron rope-like contraption Sheik had given him outside the Forest Temple. When he pointed it at his assailant, he wasn't sure at first what he was facing. It looked like a clam, but he had never heard of a clam with iron spikes on its shell.

The clam opened its mouth, exposing the tender flesh inside. Link closed an eye and fingered the trigger that would send the Hookshot into that same flesh, but someone else beat him to it: a harpoon shot from somewhere to his left and split the clam apart.

"Link, isn't it? You've got nerve, showing up after all these years. What made you think I'd wait this long?"

Before he had a chance to escape, Link felt two arms wrap around his neck and pull him forward. He tried to take a breath, but someone else had smashed her lips on his, cutting off his air supply. It felt like being kissed by a fish.

"Ruto." His eyes flew open as he pushed her away. "Why did you do that?"

The scowl she leveled on him made the idea of meeting a demon seem pleasant. "I'm your fiancée, you dolt! Did you forget the vow we made?"

Link knew his cheeks were burning, but the power of speech had temporarily failed him.

"Link didn't forget you," Navi said. "He just didn't expect to meet you like this!"

_I never promised anything,_ Link thought, cursing the day he and Ruto had become engaged, however unwillingly on his part, over the Spiritual Stone of Water.

Ruto swam close enough to slap him, hard. "You're a terrible man to have kept me waiting for seven long years."

Link groaned and rubbed his cheek. "We can talk about it later. You came to save your people, and we came to help you."

"Do that, and I might just find it in myself to forgive your carelessness."

"Right." He shook his head, hoping it would be enough to clear his thoughts. "What do we do from here?"

"We split up."

* * *

At that very moment, miles away, two horses thundered across Hyrule Field, heading northeast from Lon Lon Ranch. Talon and his daughter rode one, with Ingo trailing behind on the other. Malon had complained about the escort at first, but her father had insisted; he would never let her out of his sight again, he had said, and the best way to keep track of Ingo was to let him come, too.

Talon turned his head slightly. "What makes you think he'd go the village?"

Clinging to her father's back, Malon wrinkled her nose. "I don't know. We've met him there before. It's as good a place as any to look."

Talon grunted. "I don't care how much he's helped us. I'll wring his neck if anything happens to that horse."

"She's his horse now, dad. I gave her to him."

"What'd you go and do that for?" At her crestfallen look, he grimaced. "Sorry, hon."

"It's okay, dad. You don't have to wring his neck," Malon said. "I might just do that myself…"

* * *

Wary of a trap, Link stepped into another strange room with Navi at his side. When the door had first opened, the room had been empty. Even now, it was difficult to tell with a white light concealing everything. His feet splashed through a thin puddle of water, but that was all he could be sure of. It was as if he had stepped into a zone where nothing existed on either horizon.

"What is this place?" Trembling, he took another step forward.

"Listen," Navi said. "I thought I heard something!"

Link glanced down. "The water?"

"No, it was something else."

Suddenly, Link found himself standing on a sandbar in the middle of the sea of white. A palm tree in the center of it overshadowed him. One minute, he had been seeing pure white. The next minute, the island had appeared in front of him.

On an impulse, he leaned over the edge of the sandbar and stared at the water. His image stared back at him, reflecting the puzzled expression on his face. "Why would the Zoras create a room like this?" Inexplicably, he thought of the words Sheik had spoken before they had left the ranch. _The clear water's surface reflects growth._

Without warning, the reflection began to change. An oily gray film spread across his tunic, transforming it into something cold, hard, almost metallic. Even his flesh was melting, vanishing altogether, leaving a darkness where his face should have been and a pair of angry ruby lights in place of his eyes.

For a moment, Link was paralyzed by fear. As terrible as the image was, it wasn't the image itself that held him in awe, but what the image suggested to his imagination. _Is this my true reflection?_

"Look out!"

As soon as Navi spoke, he drew his sword and swung blindly. The blade should have swept through thin air, but it hit something solid so that the force of the blow knocked the sword from his hand. He bent to retrieve it and came face-to-face with his own reflection—only now he wasn't looking at the water. What was in front of him was as firm as his own body.

Startled, he pedaled back into the tree, forgetting it was there in the first place. He ducked as if his reflection had taken a stab at him, but instead it did what a reflection might be expected to do: it did the same thing. When he stood up again, going for his shield this time, he saw that the other Link was grabbing one, too.

Feigning to the right, he cut in from the left and felt the other Link's blade strike his shield at the same time the Master Sword struck his_ opponent's_ shield. A chill rattled his spine. _There has to be something I can do that it can't._

Before he could form a plan, his reflection leapt forward, stabbing him in the shoulder. His head swam with pain. Dropping his shield, he placed his hand over the wound and found it wet with blood. Once more, terror seized him as he realized he had found the one enemy he did not know how to fight.

Himself.

_You are not who you think you are. There is no evil others are capable of that you are not capable of yourself._ He shuddered at such thoughts as if his reflection were speaking them aloud and all his friends, past and present, were listening. What was worse was that he knew, somehow, they were true.

"—Hookshot!" Navi was saying.

"What?"

"Use the Hookshot. He doesn't have one!"

Though it was difficult to comprehend anything when his body wanted to shut down, he felt himself moving to obey. Training the Hookshot on his reflection, he waited to see if it would follow. Since it had no such weapon, the other Link could only mimic him by pointing its sword in his face as if the blade might fly off and skewer him.

The Hookshot buried itself in his reflection's armpit. Though the point didn't go all the way through the metal body, the chain did pull the two of them closer together when it retracted.

He met that dark stare calmly this time. _This doesn't have to be me. The Great Deku Tree's stories showed me something better. Zelda showed me something better: the Way of the Hero._

His reflection, unable to move because of the spike lodged in its arm, cried out as the Master Sword sank through its face. Another time, that sound might have paralyzed Link, but he felt instead a peculiar joy at the destruction of his twisted self, like a burden lifted off his heart.

Unfortunately, the loss of blood had weakened him more than he realized. Now that his adrenaline was fading, the pain in his shoulder became overwhelming.

If the wound wasn't dressed, he'd be dead by night's end.


	32. Morpha and the Sage

Chapter 31: Morpha and the Sage

_He is not a lover who does not love forever._

~Euripides

* * *

Malon rushed up the stairs to Kakariko Village as if expecting to find Link at the top, waiting for her. When she didn't immediately see him, she stomped her foot on the grass and clenched her fists until they were white.

"I told you she was yours. You didn't have to run off with her in the middle of the night!"

Talon, coming up behind her, winced and hoped they found the boy before his daughter woke up the village. With dawn just now lightening the sky, only the hardiest would be up and about, and these folks did buy their milk from the ranch, after all. No sense irritating customers.

"Maybe Ingo and I could have a look around," he said. "Better if you stay here, hon."

Malon huffed. "I'm not stopping until I get my hands around his neck. I'm sick of waiting for things to happen—for you both to come back to the ranch, and for every other good thing I've waited for. This time I can do something about it."

Talon sighed. He knew Malon well enough to let her have her way at this point. "We'll check the hill and the graveyard, just in case. If we find him, we'll meet you at the well."

"Fine. Just hurry."

The two of them shuffled off to the far north end of the village, leaving her to decide her own path. After peering into a few of the nearest alleyways and finding little more than a stray cat or two and a loose chicken, she made up her mind to follow her dad and Mr. Ingo to the other side of the village.

She had almost made it to the well when a hunched figure appeared out of a dark corner at her side. Startled, she made as if to go around it, but it quickly accosted her.

"You feel the storm coming, don't you miss?"

The question was so odd that it halted Malon in her tracks.

"Oh, I know the sky looks clear right now. Not a cloud to be seen. But the signs are there, if you know where to look."

For a moment, she forgot everything else that was on her mind. "I…I don't understand. Who are you?" She wanted to add, "You look like the grave keeper," but thought better of it.

As if reading her thoughts, the old man grinned, scratching at an absurd white beard that was so long it brushed the ground as he walked. "My brother was the grave keeper in this village. We never got along, you see. He was always concerned with things that were dead, while I was concerned with keeping things alive."

Malon frowned. "You're a doctor?"

"To some I am that. To others, I'm merely an eccentric old fool that likes to collect rare plants and animals." He pointed at a cluster of buildings that took up the northwest corner of the village. "I own the potion shop."

A snort escaped Malon's nostrils. "Maybe you have potions to help find a person whose neck you'd like to strangle?"

"Oh. I'm afraid that's too specific, even for my talents." When Malon's expression fell, he hurriedly added, "That doesn't mean I can't help you."

She watched as he brushed off a strange piece of glass and handed it to her. The glass was red, but it was embedded inside a purple frame with a matching handle, making it look like a mirror or a magnifying glass.

"I found it at the bottom of the well a few weeks ago. Haven't much use for it myself."

She shrugged. "What is it?"

"If my memory of Sheikah fables serves me correctly, that is a Lens of Truth. A Sheikah who used one of those would be able to see the truth of their surroundings on command. As long as it's somewhere near you, all you do is blink three times, and the Lens will work its magic."

"I don't understand how it helps."

The old man smiled again. "You will, soon."

She tucked the lens away in the folds of her dress, shivering. "Thanks, I guess."

"Just remember, young lady. Do be careful when the storm comes. It'd be a pity to see a flower like yourself wither away before it has found its place in the world."

Malon watched until he disappeared the way he had come. Her father had visited the potion shop on occasion to get medicine for a sick horse, but she had never gone with him. How the man had managed to sneak up on her and how he could be so sure the so-called Lens of Truth would help her remained a mystery.

* * *

"I can dull the pain," Ruto said, "and I might be able to stop the blood, but I don't know enough about his condition to do more than that."

"What do you mean?" said Navi.

"You said his reflection caused the wound?" Ruto shook her head. "No one sees the darkness within themselves without being changed."

She tore a piece of Link's right sleeve and tied it in a knot around his shoulder. She tore another from his left sleeve and dipped it in the puddle on the floor to soak up some of the blood. By the time she had fully dressed the wound, he had almost no sleeves left at all.

After some time had passed, she noted that his breathing had evened out. Finally, he groaned and started to cough. "Navi, did he ever talk about us? I mean about our engagement."

Navi hesitated. "I think it made him uncomfortable talking about it."

"I thought so." Ruto gently placed her left hand on Link's forehead. "Do you think…" She stopped as his eyes began to flutter open.

Link squinted, not quite convinced of his own consciousness. "What's happened?"

Ruto bowed her head. "Navi says you've been unconscious for almost an hour."

Link winced at the sight of his shoulder. "How did you find me?"

"She found me first."

"Did you find the demon?"

"Morpha is hiding in a shrine on the top level."

"Let's go then." He tried to sit up, but the pain forced him back down.

"You're in no condition to fight." Ruto cupped his other shoulder and narrowed her eyes. "Navi and I will take care of this."

"I said I would help you. I'm not going back on that promise."

"I know." Ruto laid him down as he struggled against another wave of exhaustion. "You _have_ helped."

"What are you doing to him?" Navi said.

"I told you I could dull the pain." Ruto held up a vial of salve she had been rubbing on Link's wound. "I didn't say how."

"What will happen to him?"

"He'll be asleep for a while, but he'll be safe." Ruto smiled. "And _we'll _be back before he wakes up again."

* * *

He sat up, his mind and body clouded with pain. How long had he been away this time? The pain in his shoulder _had_ dulled slightly, so that he could move about. He felt around for his sword and shield and found them lying a few feet from his left shoulder.

Where had they gone? He shook his head and tried to remember who "they" were.

_The shrine on the upper level._ Could he get there in time to make a difference? Numb after so much time on the floor, he struggled to his feet and turned in a complete circle, searching for the way out. There were two doors, but which one had he entered through? How would he reach the shrine? Maybe it was too late.

He moaned and started walking.

* * *

The gate leading into the shrine rose like a portcullis, vanishing so quickly that Ruto paused on the threshold and stared as if she suspected the demon waited for them in ambush.

"How do you know it's in here?" Navi kept her voice low.

"I can't explain the feeling, exactly," Ruto said. "I just knew it when I saw this room."

"That sounds like something Saria said."

"Who?"

"Oh, nothing."

Ruto shook her head as she passed into the shrine, clutching her harpoon gun to her chest. As soon as she had stepped beyond the threshold, the gate came down again, sealing the way out. "No!" She spun around, aiming her gun at the gate as if she could blow it open.

"He won't get in now," Navi said.

"He wasn't supposed to follow us in the first place."

"Then why are you so upset?"

Ruto tried unsuccessfully to repress a shiver. "Maybe, Navi, just maybe, I'm not as brave as I've been pretending to be." She sighed and turned to examine the shrine. Most of it was a large pool of water, with four pillars of stone rising above the surface—one in each of the pool's four quadrants—and a walkway lining the perimeter of the pool.

Slowly, a stream of water rose from the surface of the pool, defying the force of gravity as the drops formed a shape like a tentacle. The effect was hypnotic, distracting. As if sensing Ruto's presence, the tentacle left the edge of the pool and curled around her ankle. Too horrified to resist, she watched as it grew wider and wider until it had become a tube three feet thick, hard as stone to the touch.

"Watch out!"

Ruto looked up just in time for another tube to clap her in the face, flinging her away from the first tube and onto the walkway at the pool's edge. Both tubes followed, wrapping around her body before she could move and lifting her off the ground.

Navi rammed herself against the tubes. "Princess Ruto!"

Ruto struggled to free her arms, but the tubes swayed back and forth, squeezing her until she was groggy.

* * *

Link crawled onto another ledge, his tunic soaked in water but smeared with blood near his right shoulder, where the dressing had come loose. Two other rooms on the upper level had yielded nothing, and he had no way of knowing whether this next door would lead to the shrine until he entered it—not an easy task in his present state.

He winced at the burning in his shoulder. His sword and shield weighed him down, and the breeze blowing through the temple chilled his skin. _This has to be the one. It has to be._

He stumbled up to the door, ignoring a pair of stone dragons that leered at him from either side. The line of his jaw hardened when the door refused to yield to his pounding. _I will not break my promise!_

* * *

Ruto screamed as the demon released her, allowing her to fall to the pool twenty feet below. The harpoon gun flew from her grasp and landed on one of the stone pillars protruding from the water.

_Link._ She plunged beneath the surface in a foam of bubbles. _I shouldn't have left you._

She kicked her feet, struggling to regain the oxygen she'd lost. The demon had almost strangled her, and she still had no idea how to fight it.

"What's that?"

Navi's voice broke into her thoughts. She blinked and tried to see through the water around her. She found a ladder on the side of the pillar and climbed until she was over the top.

The tubes that had been crushing her hung limp on opposite sides of the pool, draped across the walkway like the fallen limbs of trees.

"See it?" Navi was at her side in an instant.

Ruto nodded. Inside one of the tubes, a red ball quivered like a massive drop of blood. A smile graced the corners of her mouth. _Squeezing me must have made the demon weak._

"Does it look important?" Navi said.

"Yes!" Ruto leapt to the next pillar, where her harpoon gun awaited her. She picked it up and aimed for the quivering mass with one eye closed and the gun propped on her shoulder.

A click and a jet of air hurtled the harpoon through the tube and the red glob at the center in a spray of fluids, red and blue.

The demon roared, a sound more startling because she couldn't see its face. Both tubes swung over the pool, and she dove into the water just as they clapped together behind her. She heard another clap after that, but it didn't draw her attention until Navi said, "He's trying to open the door!"

The pounding came again, too weak to be one of the tubes hitting the wall or the floor. _Link?_ Ruto lunged for the edge of the pool and scrambled onto the walkway. Only a few yards separated her from the door, but she never made it.

A tube grabbed her from behind, yanking her back. She screamed and flailed her arms, but the demon held on stubbornly.

Link's voice came through the wall, muffled. "Ruto. Navi!"

"Princess, it's below you!" Navi shouted so Ruto could hear over the pounding.

Ruto glanced down and saw the glob with her harpoon still sticking out of it. She closed her eyes and tried to ignore the pain squeezing her chest so tightly. She waited, holding her breath until she had worked up the nerve for what she had to do. She opened her eyes, sought the blunt end of the harpoon with her feet, and stomped on it, driving the point further in.

* * *

On the other side of the door, Link rapped the hilt of the Master Sword against the stone one more time, wishing he could settle the matter with one of the Gorons' Bomb Flowers. With a sigh, he fingered the Sages' Medallions in the pouch at his waist.

_If Darunia were here…_

Even as he gave up on pounding his way in, he heard an explosion from the shrine, and something wet splattered the door. Startled, he backed away, his concern for Ruto's life peaking. Another pounding followed, opening a hole in the wall beside him.

When he saw the red and blue fluids pooling on the walkway, he thought they came from Ruto. He couldn't see her body, nor could he find Navi at first. But they were here somewhere; they had to be. As did the demon.

"We did it, Link!"

Stepping through the hole in the wall, he hesitated. "Navi?"

"We did it. Ruto's the Sage!"

* * *

_"I don't understand," I say. "How did you kill it?"_

_I sense the two of them turning to face me._

_"Of all the insensitive questions, Navi. He didn't believe we could do it!"_

_"Link?" Navi's wings tickle my ear. "Go stick your head in a Deku Bush."_

_The light fades, and I can see Ruto standing on the pedestal reserved for the Sage of Water, her fins spread apart like wings. She looks at me with a look that sees through my exterior, into all the thoughts I've hidden from Navi—and even from myself._

_"You saved my life. I would have expected no less from the man I chose to be my husband."_

_I shake my head. "I didn't save you. I didn't even get there in time to help."_

_Her eyes take on a distant expression. "Do you remember how we met?"_

"_You yelled at me once or twice." I can't help smiling at this._

_Ruto laughs. "I was terrible."_

_I shrug, remembering Sheik's image of time as a river. "It's upstream now."_

_"I was selfish then. I had everything I wanted, but you had something I didn't: selflessness." The tears are gathering in the corners of her face. "When you risked your life for mine, it changed how I thought of myself. That day, I swore that the girl who had been indulged so often would turn out to be worthy of doing something great for her people."_

_Suddenly, I'm aware, in some small way, of the impact I've had since I left the forest seven years ago. The reality of Ruto's transformation from what she used to be to this—a grown woman—forces me to realize how much my smallest actions have made a difference in the lives of others._

_She continues. "Now, thanks to our efforts, Zora's Domain and its people can return to their original state. As a reward for your part, I grant my eternal love to you."_

_Hopefully, my face betrays nothing of the illness in my stomach._

_Ruto smiles again. "Well, that's what I want to say. I don't think I can offer that now. I have to guard the Water Temple as the Sage of Water, and you…you're searching for Zelda!"_

_I sense my face is a little warmer than it was a moment ago. "I'm sorry."_

_"For what? I was the one who was foolish. Had I understood why you were asking for the Spiritual Stone, I would have given it to you without such an obligation attached."_

_I swallow. "How did you know I was looking for her?"_

_"When I kissed you, your response told me you would never return the affection I felt for you. Navi told me the why and the who." Ruto hands me the fourth Medallion, a blue disc with the image of six water drops arranged in a circle. "If you see Sheik, please give him my thanks for getting me out of the ice. And Link?"_

_"Yes?"_

_"Don't give up. You will find her."_

* * *

**For those of you who have played the game enough to pick up on differences subtle and not-so-subtle between my novelization and its source material, you may be curious about my reasons for leaving certain parts out and putting others in. Let's look at a couple of examples from these last two chapters.**

**First, you'll notice that there's no Ice Cavern. I should hope the reason for this would be fairly obvious. True, it's where Link gets his Iron Boots and learns the Serenade of Water, but frankly there's no reason why he couldn't learn the Serenade somewhere else. As for the boots, this brings up the issue of Link's ridiculously large inventory in the game. In video games, you can get away with having a character that carries around an entire army surplus store in his or her pants. In a book, it's much more difficult to get away with this. Rather than attempting to come up with some complicated solution like giving Link storage depots all over Hyrule, I thought it was better to leave certain things out. I mean, how would YOU like to lug the Iron Boots around everywhere you go? Great exercise, maybe, but pretty ding-dang-dong exhausting.**

**This brings me to my next point. Ruto. Some of you, after reading this chapter, may be thinking, "Why the heck did Ruto kill the demon and not Link?" Good question. It might seem fundamentally wrong to have anyone other than Link kill the dungeon bosses. But think about it. As epic as it sounds to have one guy or gal doing all the heroic stuff, it makes for a very, very repetitive and not-very-realistic scenario. Plus, I really wanted to give the Sages a more significant role. In the game, the main thing they do is build a pretty rainbow bridge and seal up Ganon. Great stuff, but I felt we needed a little more than that in the book.**

**I'm immensely grateful for all the reviews and comments! Keep 'em coming!**


	33. The Burning of Kakariko Village

Chapter 32: The Burning of Kakariko Village

"Well, I hope Malon had better luck than we did." Talon scratched the back of his neck. "She'll be ready to hang us from the barn roof if we don't find that boy soon."

"Yes, sir." Ingo shuffled nervously as they stood by the well at the heart of the village.

"And quit acting like I'm about to stick a pitchfork in your behind." Talon muttered to himself, "Much as I might like to."

Before long, they spotted Malon's red hair weaving towards them from the western quarter of the village. Though alone, she was not empty-handed.

"What in tarnation?" Talon frowned at the object in his daughter's hand.

"I found this." Malon held out the Lens of Truth.

Talon exchanged a glance with Ingo. "What the heck is it?"

Still reeling from her encounter with the old man from the potion shop, Malon shrugged. "I'm not really sure."

Talon cleared his throat. "Hon, I thought you were after Link."

"I am," she said distractedly. "He said this would help."

"Who did?"

"The man that gave me this."

A tremor, subtle but noticeable, shook the ground they were standing on. From the bottom of the well rose a sound like the droning of hornets. Talon peered into the dark shaft.

_Blink three times, and the Lens will work its magic._ Malon stood beside her father, blinking and feeling a bit ridiculous for it.

"Got something in your eye?"

She shook her head. "Don't ask me right now, dad."

The ground shook, harder this time.

"I know I don't have much say anymore," Ingo said, tentatively, "but I say we best be getting out of here."

Malon gasped. "It's a hand. There's a hand down there!"

She began to sweat. She knew they wouldn't believe her if she tried to explain what it was she was seeing—she wasn't sure she believed it herself. The minute she had blinked three times, like the old man had said, her vision turned red as if the lens had covered her eyes, and she could see things at the bottom of the well the others couldn't see.

Like the hand, black and scaly, with traces of blue and violet in the skin of its palm: the colors of twilight. For a moment, she was fascinated by this new ability, but in the next moment she was running away from the well, leaving Ingo and her father to puzzle over her actions.

Talon grabbed Ingo by the shoulders and jumped down the staircase in front of the well just in time to escape Malon's phantom as it left its confines. Behind them, they heard the same sound of hornets, this time _outside_ the well.

Only Malon could see it, and she dared not turn around for another glimpse.

* * *

Link knew something was wrong long before he saw the smoke on the horizon. He had returned from the Sacred Realm to find the ice in Zora's Domain melted and Lake Hylia's waters full once more, now that Morpha's curse had been lifted. But he took no pleasure in the shouts of joy and the gratitude of King Zora and his people, because he knew what he would find when he reached the next temple.

Ganon had surely struck there, too. He was always a step ahead, because he'd had seven years to do what he wanted with Hyrule and its inhabitants.

_He knows the prophecy of the Sages. _Link hunched over as Epona cantered from the mouth of Zora's River. _But he doesn't know who they are. He's letting me wake them so he can kill us all at once._

He wondered if Navi had reached the same conclusion, but before he could ask, her voice rang out, "It's burning!"

He squinted, still adjusting to the light of the wider world after a night in the Water Temple. At last, he saw the black smoke curling in the sky to the west, above Kakariko Village.

With a shout, he kicked Epona into a gallop.

* * *

Sheik stared into the well as the village burned around him, ravaged by the touch of the shadow beast. He had stood there motionless ever since the beast had withdrawn. Though he knew there were families with babes and young children gathered behind him—many watching their homes burn to the ground—he had no time to address their needs just yet.

_Seven dead. Only five wounded. Could it not have destroyed everything?_

He stirred as a horse neighed nearby, somewhere in the village, but he kept his eyes fixed on the well until he could sense the rider at his heels, on the stairway. "Get back, Link."

Link, dismounted, drew his sword. "What happened here?"

In answer, the beast flew from the well, shattering wood and stone. Still invisible, it lifted Sheik in the air, jerking his limbs and spinning him about like chaff in a whirlwind. Link threw down his sword and ran to catch the boy as he fell from fifteen feet up. The two of them collapsed to the ground in a heap.

The beast sailed around them, invisible to the naked eye except for a blur in the air.

"What was that?" Navi hovered close, her concern and bewilderment equally obvious.

Though they could still hear the beast, a few brave villagers, figuring the danger had passed for now, rushed to offer their assistance. Link felt someone grab him by his wounded shoulder and yank him to his feet.

"You. You left without saying goodbye!"

_Malon!_ Link didn't bother turning around. "I'm sorry," he muttered. "The letter…"

"I saw your letter, and…" Malon stopped, as if aware her outburst might seem selfish under the present circumstances. "I did give you permission to take Epona, but you should've at least let me know you were taking her."

"I'm sorry. There wasn't time."

Talon, gently pulling his daughter's hand from Link's shoulder, knelt to examine the other young man beside Link. "Better keep an eye out in case it comes back…whatever it is."

After eyeing the steady rise and fall of Sheik's chest, he nodded. "Reckon he'll be okay."

"Listen," Navi said.

They listened. The beast had gotten louder again. Soon, they heard screams, an explosion, the breaking of glass, and other signs of its passing. Then Malon saw it coming out of the smoke, and unless the Lens of Truth was feeding her a lie, it had two hands this time.

"Everybody run!"

Talon, picking up Sheik in his arms, turned and fled, followed by Ingo. Malon tried to drag Link away by his armpits, but he shook her off.

"There's nothing you can do!" she screamed.

Ignoring her, Link stumbled around until he thought he was facing the direction the thing would be coming from.

The blow came from behind, throwing him high over the roof of a nearby house. After that, all was confusion and chaos while the beast batted him between its hands once, twice, three times, never letting him fall below the roofline.

"Let go!" Navi followed the beast around in circles, feebly attempting to pull Link away, but the beast would not be thwarted. With a final heave, it dashed Link's body against the house and fled north towards the graveyard, leaving a trail of grief and destruction in its wake.

* * *

Link woke to the pitter-patter of rain. The fires had died out, and the villagers were digging through the wreckage of their homes and shops.

A hand touched him on the back of the neck, tilting his head up for a drink of water. "Thanks," he gasped, enjoying the wetness in his throat as much as he enjoyed the soothing rain.

"It is fortunate the shadow beast had no interest in killing you."

Link glanced at his benefactor. "I thought you were unconscious, too."

Sheik gave him another drink. "I have recovered."

"Obviously." Link sat with a grunt, his back against a tree. "You're not leaving again?"

"I must," Sheik said quietly. "As always, I have risked much in staying this long."

"But why is it so dangerous?"

Sheik didn't seem to hear him. "Link…something terrible has happened."

"What was that thing?"

Sheik turned to face north, the direction of the well and the graveyard. "The shadow beast is a consequence of the many evils committed in Hyrule these last years."

"I don't understand."

"You know the world is touched by powers that are spiritual as well as physical. Death, blood, and the grief these things bring please the demonic hosts that often trouble Hyrule. _This_ particular spirit has existed since the beginning of the Fierce War."

Link frowned and rubbed his shoulders. "That was the war my mother…died in."

"Yes. It began with the King of Hyrule."

Link flinched. "Princess Zelda's father?"

"No." Sheik's eyes flickered. "The King that ruled _before_ Daphnes Nohansen was a despot who coveted the power of the Triforce so much that he sought every rumor about it that existed, even if it meant robbing other races of their sacred texts and relics. _That_ was what began the Fierce War. The bloodshed of that conflict opened a door to the spirit realm, and for a time, the shadow beast was allowed to sow chaos in Hyrule."

Navi shivered. "It was stopped, right?"

Sheik nodded. "My people were able to contain the beast at the bottom of the well. Until Ganondorf's triumph seven years ago, that seal remained strong."

At the mention of Sheik's people, a sudden thought occurred to Link. "Where is Impa?"

Before answering, Sheik retrieved his golden harp. "She has gone to the Shadow Temple to pursue the beast, but you will not be able to follow her on foot. Only the Nocturne of Shadow can lead you there."

Link fingered the Ocarina of Time. "Teach me, then."

An unexpected terror of being trapped in darkness seized Link so that he couldn't play the notes. All he could do was listen until the Nocturne seemed like part of the air he breathed. By the time the last note faded, he felt as if the song had left a colossal void in his heart.

Sheik lowered the harp. "Yes, it is a dreary melody."

Link shuddered. "Don't leave me alone this time. Stay and help me finish this."

"I am sorry."

"No!" Link grabbed at the boy's arm, but he had already slipped away.

"You're never alone, Link." Navi rested on his shoulder. "Please don't forget that."

Before either one of them could say anything else, a shout reminded them that they were still in the middle of the village. _"Link!"_

Navi perked at the voice. "Oh no. Is _she_ still here?"

Link struggled to his feet to meet Malon, Talon, Ingo, and Epona returning from another part of the village.

"It's about time you woke up," Malon said. "That boy said he wanted to talk to you alone."

"He had to leave," said Navi. "So do we."

"Well, at least you didn't escape without saying goodbye this time."

Link smiled. "I'm sorry I took Epona. Sheik came to me last night and told me there was someone in danger who is very important to Hyrule. I didn't have time to wake any of you."

Malon stamped her foot. "But why do _you_ have to keep putting yourself in danger?"

"I'm sorry. I don't have time to explain."

"Hon…" Talon pinched himself. "If you gave him the horse and he needs her that bad, let him explain himself later. He helped us, so I think he's earned the right to be a little strange if he wants to. Let it be and come home."

"Dad." Malon hesitated. "I love you…but I won't be left behind this time."

"What are you saying?"

She turned to Link. "I'm coming with you."

"Oh no you aren't," Navi said. "You'll just be in our way!"

Malon stared them both down, unyielding. "I have something you need."

Navi flew within inches of the young woman's face. "Give it to him then, and go away!"

"Leave her alone, Navi." Link held out his left hand to Malon. "Let me see it first."

Malon wavered before digging the Lens of Truth from the folds of her dress and handing it over.

Link stared at the glass in the middle. "What does it do?"

Malon shrugged. "If you blink three times, it shows you things that are invisible. Like that monster."

"Thank you." Link nodded and stowed the Lens away, trading it for the Ocarina of Time. As he began to play the Nocturne of Shadow, a high-pitched whine filled the air, and a streak of purple light shot down from the sky, straight towards him.

"No!" Malon broke away from her father and leapt forward. Talon yelled after her, but it was too late. She grabbed Link by the arm just as the light hit his body, and the two of them, sucked up in the strange power of the Nocturne, vanished together with Navi.

Into the darkness. Into the Shadow Temple.


	34. Shadow Beast

Chapter 33: Shadow Beast

She moved with a grace so familiar to her it was almost unconscious. Any other being in Hyrule would have found such dexterity impossible, especially in the Shadow Temple. But as a Sheikah, she required no light: the only thing that could prevent her from seeing in the dark was if there wasn't anything to see in the first place. Here, there were ample sights for the eyes—and even more for the memory.

Skeletons leered at her from their catacombs in the walls, calling out with voiceless cries. Visions of who they were and how they had felt when they realized their King had betrayed them assaulted her. _When the dead speak, their silence is louder than the voices of the living._

Once again, she realized that this was the only place in Hyrule where the Sheikah still had a voice. To her, the Shadow Temple was more than a burial ground; being here reminded her that the man who had extinguished her peoples' light from the world had also usurped the throne seven years ago, the throne she had once defended.

The more she listened, the more she remembered the individual lives those tragedies—both the destruction of the city and the King's betrayal—had snuffed out, and the more she heard their voices. Almost nothing that went on in the temple could be hidden from her.

And not everything that entered here was already dead.

She paused. Something was out of place. Something? Some_one,_ perhaps. But who?

* * *

Malon brushed aside a cobweb, almost cutting her hand in the process. She yelped. "What is this place?"

Link came over to examine the guillotine sticking out from the wall where she was standing. "Look, I don't have time to take you back, or else I would. This is no place for a…"

She clenched her hips. "A girl?"

"I didn't say that."

"But you were going to."

"If you say so." Link sighed. "You're free to go or stay. Just be careful what you touch."

Malon backed away from the blade, staring. "I'd hate to know what they used that for."

They had hardly made it ten feet further down the corridor when a sound like wind howling through a canyon arrested their attention. Even in the dim light Navi's body provided, they could see a shadow spreading out from Malon's feet in a circle as if there had been another light coming from the ceiling that was now being obstructed. But they could see the ceiling well enough, and there wasn't anything there.

"Quick," Malon said. "Use that glass I gave you: the Lens of Truth!"

_Of course. _Link stared closely at the ceiling, took a deep breath, and blinked three times.

A severed hand dropped from above, latching onto Malon's head with talons so black they seemed darker than the shadows they came from. She screamed, but it was more from the shock than anything else.

Navi shouted over the noise. "What is it?"

_A nightmare,_ Link thought, reaching for his sword. Then he saw the shadow at his own feet, just before a second hand dropped from the ceiling with the same howling echo. He winced as the thing impaled itself on the point of the Master Sword. Veins stuck out like cords of rope, and every inch of its skin was stained a dark crimson. Sliding all the way down his blade to the hilt, still moving, it grasped at his wrists. He was about to throw the sword to the ground when the hand simply dissolved in front of him.

Malon, still struggling with the one on her head, reached into her pocket and grabbed a spade. Though rusty, the metal edge was still sharp enough to cause serious damage. The hand dropped off with a screech, and Link finished it with a quick stab.

"Where did you get that?" said Navi.

"I ride, I shovel hay, I milk the cows." Malon glared. "Don't you think I can garden?"

Link tried with some difficulty to hold back a smile. "Farmer's daughter."

Another retort was forming on Malon's lips when the gleam of some object reflecting off the Master Sword drew her attention. Link, catching the pale expression on her face, turned and followed her gaze.

He swallowed. "Malon…meet Impa."

Impa nodded at them but said nothing.

"She's real? You know her?" Malon shuddered. "I thought she was a ghost…or worse."

Link put away his sword before answering. "The Sheikah do have that effect."

"You can still leave if you want to," Navi said.

Impa folded her arms the same way Link remembered as a child. "The shadow beast is not a foe to be taken lightly. If you choose to stay, I cannot swear protection for any of you."

"We understand," Link said.

* * *

After twenty minutes of tromping through rooms that smelled of earth and rot, spotting guillotines and other traps more than once, Link gathered his courage to speak. "Where are we?"

Keeping her eyes ahead, Impa answered in a low voice. "It is a burial ground."

Malon flinched as they passed an oak beam. "There's blood on it. What happened?"

"The Shadow Temple has always been sacred to my people, the Sheikah. Our elders were buried here in the early years of Kakariko Village. That was all we ever meant it for."

Intuition sparked a question in Link's mind. "How many Sheikah are left?"

"It has always been the task of our people to safeguard the King of Hyrule," Impa continued without answering the question directly. "In the time of Zelda's grandfather, the King commanded us to eliminate one of his greatest enemies. An attempt was made, but the man had been warned. Our assassins were quickly overpowered, and a raid was ordered on our village in reprisal."

Link clenched his left fist. "You…and Sheik…were the only survivors?"

"In the end, yes. Some of our people were spared in the raid, only to endure an end far worse than they had imagined. The man ordered his soldiers to desecrate our burial ground by turning it into a house of blood. Instruments of torture were built side-by-side with our tombs."

Malon bit her lip. "Oh…"

"So many were killed that the rooms had to be purged of blood every hour. It took three days for his people to wipe our people from the face of Hyrule."

Link put a hand to his chest as if he could see the spectacle in front of him. "They were never made to answer?"

A long pause ensued before Impa replied. "No—but the man who commanded the slaughter is the same man who invaded Hyrule Castle Town seven years ago, killed the King's descendant, and violated the Sacred Realm."

Link whispered the name, almost in a hiss. "Ganondorf!"

* * *

"We are nearing the deepest part of the temple," Impa said.

Malon swallowed. Link strode forward with resolution, only to halt at the edge of an abyss with no natural crossing, as far as he could tell.

"What's that?" Before anyone could stop her, Navi flew out over the abyss to examine what appeared to be a brass bell hanging in midair. As she flew closer, they saw it was attached to the bow of a ship. The ship had no sails, no oars, and no noticeable markings except for the carved head of a bird of prey jutting from the ship's forefront.

"Don't tell me we're riding _that,"_ Malon said. "The last time I was on the water…"

Link shrugged. "I don't see any water."

"Something's holding it up. It can't just be floating by itself!"

Impa walked to the edge beside them. "The ship will take us where we must go." She leapt into the shadows without another word, touching down on the ship's poop deck noiselessly.

Link motioned for Malon to join him. "We'll jump at the same time."

Malon swallowed, grabbing his hand for support. "Ready."

"One, two…"

As soon as they had landed on the deck in a tangle of limbs and bruised elbows, the whole ship jerked as if seized by an invisible hand. The world sank beneath them, making the ledge they had just abandoned appear to rise. The brass bell jangled like the rattling of chains.

Navi flitted from one companion to another. "Did the Sheikah build this, too?"

Impa faced the darkness ahead of them as the ship began moving up, down, and ever forward, as if sailing the ocean. "It once ferried our most revered elders to their resting places."

Link fingered the hilt of his sword as the ledge vanished behind them. He glanced around, unsure whether to be grateful or terrified that they couldn't see where they were going.

"Link?" Malon's voice was timid, inquiring.

Link kept his gaze fixed on the darkness. "What is it?"

"I can't fight with just a spade. Can I borrow one of your weapons?"

Navi snorted. "Why didn't you think of that before you decided to join us?"

Link held up a hand. "It's okay, Navi." Somehow, Malon's simple request made their surroundings seem less of a horror; still, as he handed her the Fairy Bow, he couldn't forget what Impa had told them of the temple's history.

_Ganon will answer for every lie and every drop of innocent blood._ He drew his sword as if the man himself stood in front of him. From his right, he heard a thump on the ship's hull.

"Do not press an attack," Impa said. "We stay back-to-back until they leave us."

The others moved to obey just as another thump came from the left side of the ship. Something else fell against the ship's bow, clanging the bell. With his eye on the Lens of Truth, Link blinked three times, just in case.

Eight severed hands slithered across the deck.

"I can't see them," Malon whispered. "What are they?"

Link shuddered as another hand landed directly in front of him. "Don't ask. Just shoot."

Nodding, Malon closed her eyes and loosed an arrow into the shadows. The shot was clumsy, but the arrowhead still managed to slice through one of the hands.

"It was foolish to show your fear," Impa said. "Now they will attack us in force."

With that, the hand nearest Link jumped off the deck and attached itself to his face. Behind him, he could hear Malon and Impa moving to defend themselves from similar attacks. The sound of another arrow finding its target rang out above the din. With a grunt, he pried the hand off his face and skewered it.

Another hand grabbed at his left ankle. With a cry, he sliced it in two, only to find himself grappling with three more that had fastened themselves to his torso. Something knocked against his left elbow, breaking his grip on the sword. Dropping to the deck, he rolled over and groped for the weapon while the hands writhed beneath his weight.

"Link!" Malon screamed as a hand affixed itself to her back. Sweeping the bow in a wide circle to keep others away, she fumbled for an arrow. Finding one, she stabbed at the thing on her back. The arrowhead stuck, but the hand maintained its grip tenaciously.

Suddenly, the whole vessel plunged several feet into the void, throwing everything into confusion. Link and Malon staggered, and Navi was left hovering above them, bewildered.

"How close are we to where we need to be?" Link shouted over the clamor.

"I believe I can carry us across," said Impa, "but you must take hold of my shoulders."

"Wait for me!" Navi scurried to catch up.

Taking hold of Impa's left shoulder, Link nodded at Malon, who had taken the other shoulder with an even fiercer grip than his own.

Impa tensed, flexing her lean limbs. "Run when I run, and jump when I jump. Do not concern yourself with the rest."

Without a word, they dashed forward and leapt as the throng of demonic hands finally overwhelmed the deck. The ship, groaning dangerously under the pressure of so many bodies, plummeted faster and faster until it had disappeared altogether.

Impa, her efforts focused on the task at hand, breathed a prayer to Farore, goddess of wind, and jerked her arms forward. With a clap of imploding air, all three of their bodies blinked out of existence and reappeared several feet closer to the landing. The ground came up to meet them in a rush.

Link recovered from the crash first. "Impa?" He knelt at her side, surprised she hadn't risen. "You're hurt."

"Who wakes the wind pays a price for such power." Impa accepted his hand, allowing him to pull her to her feet.

"Can you still fight?"

"I will because I must." An uncharacteristic note of tenderness entered the Sheikah's voice. "You were my pupil. You know my weaknesses and my strengths as well as anyone."

"Hey," said Navi. "Aren't you forgetting someone?"

Link smiled. "Don't worry. We couldn't leave _you_ out of this if we tried."

A resounding boom hit their ears almost as soon as he had said this. Everyone jerked, catching their breath as the sound repeated itself once, twice, and three times in the space of a half-minute, sounding closer every time. Soon, they could feel it as a tremor beneath their feet.

Impa turned to each of them, her eyes lingering on Malon in particular. "Once, I sealed this creature in the bottom of the well. It has grown stronger since then, and I have not."

Malon swallowed but said nothing. Link narrowed his eyes and watched for any sign of the shadow beast. The time gap between each booming lengthened, though the sound itself had grown louder. All at once, it stopped, bathing them in a terrible silence.

Link began to reach for his shield, but a glance at Impa stopped him. "What is it?"

Impa threw herself to the ground. "Down!" With a moment's delay, the others followed her. Two objects, hurtling from opposite directions, collided above their heads.

"Navi, go!" Link pushed himself to a kneeling position as the fairy spun into action, zipping back and forth through the air to illuminate the beast. At first, all he could catch were glimpses of its gnarled flesh, packed with muscle. When it did pause long enough for him to tell, he saw that its hands were severed from the arms by nearly two feet of empty space, though they moved with the arms as if firmly attached.

He only had a moment to absorb the sight before the hands swung outward, heading in separate directions. "Malon!" He would have pushed her down to the floor again, but the tone of his voice had been enough to warn her. The beast clapped its hands inches from their backs.

Malon shook him by the shoulders. "Tell me what's going on!"

"It looks like what you described in the village," he said. "Only I can see more of it." He pointed into the shadows on their right. "You should go, too. We have to give it more targets."

Without waiting for her response, he headed left, putting distance between them. "Impa!" He slowed to avoid any obstacles lurking in his path. "Where are you?"

Whether out of some physical weakness or to avoid betraying her position, the Sheikah remained silent.

Just then, Navi's random flight brought one of the beast's hands into view. Throwing aside caution, Link charged forward and sprang into the air, swinging a furious overhead blow that cut into the beast's palm. Expecting a reprisal, he backed off and poised himself to dodge the next attack. To his surprise, the hand fell towards the ground, and a crash—louder than all previous sounds—thundered through the cavern.

The eye of the beast materialized in the dark, pulsing red. Had he wounded it so easily?

Impa called out suddenly. "Continue attacking its hands. This may be its weakness. I will attack the eye!"

In the light the beast's body gave off, Link saw her shadow leap towards the eye. Her movements, though slowed by fatigue, were too rapid for him to follow in the poor light, but he knew she had found her mark when the beast reared up and swatted at her with both hands. For several tense seconds, she held on as the beast bucked from side to side, but her stamina gave out at last, and she fell to the ground, barely conscious.

Still howling, the beast backed away, rolling its eye downward so that the pupil faced Impa. Again, the mammoth hands swung outward.

_No!_ Link dashed forward, flinging himself over Impa as if his body could absorb the impact of the beast's hands. He sensed that Navi had stopped some distance above them. They had a second, maybe two, before a hand came down on top of them.

A faint hiss registered in the back of his mind. Instinctively, he looked up and saw an arrow, one of his arrows, sticking out of the beast's palm. The hand withdrew with a sudden jolt just before it would have struck them, and the beast collapsed.

Once more, the eye had been exposed. Scrambling to finish the job Impa had started, Link found the wound she had opened in the cornea and stabbed, piercing the optic nerve. Even then, the blow only seemed to provoke the beast's fury. Something grabbed him from behind so quickly that he lost his grip on the sword again and felt himself flailing in the air. The beast had seized him in its hand. Another scream told him it had found Malon, too.

He flinched as the beast tightened its hold. "Malon, are your hands free?"

Her reply was inaudible, and before he could ask her to repeat it, the beast slammed its fists together. For a moment, his vision blurred as he fought to regain his breath. He could see Malon from one corner of his eye, trapped in the other fist just a few feet away. While the two of them were close together, he leaned out as far as he could to lift an arrow from her quiver.

The beast's hands parted. Struggling against dizziness, he raised the arrow above his head and hacked downward and inward as if aiming at his own kidneys. The beast plummeted to the ground.

With a groan, he extracted himself from the hand and stumbled in the direction of the eye. Before he got there, he stopped in mid-stride, awestruck. Impa had found her feet and was already standing over the beast.

He heard her whisper something that he couldn't make out, and he saw her stab the eye again. That time, the beast's cry could have been heard in Kakariko Village.

* * *

_I stir as if waking from a dream. "We're in the Sacred Realm, aren't we? You're the fifth Sage." Navi is hovering at my side. Impa stands across from us, on the purple pedestal representing the Sage of Shadow. Once again, a feeling of being dislocated from the physical sphere of Hyrule muddles my thoughts, like it has every time I've been here._

"_I am," Impa says simply._

_ I scratch my ear. "The shadow beast…destroyed. And Malon?"_

"_She will return to her father."_

"_She saved our lives, Link," Navi interrupts. "That last arrow. She guessed its hand would be somewhere near me, and she was right!"_

_ "Yes." Impa is silent for a moment, then her voice changes tone. "One Sage remains."_

_I nod. "Where will I go?"_

"_Your path leads you within sight of Ganondorf's defeat. His birthplace conceals the final weapons needed by the Hero of Time."_

_ The blood suddenly rushes to my cheeks. "Is Zelda one of them?"_

_ That draws a smile from the Sage of Shadow. "She will find you sooner than you think."_

_ "Everyone keeps telling me that." I sigh. "I just hope she's as eager to see me again as I am to..." I swallow, overcome by a familiar ache. "Have you talked to her?"_

_ "She will find you," Impa says once more, folding her arms. "Guard her well."_

_I bite my lip to hold back the raw emotions churning in my gut. "With my life."_

_ I raise my arms to receive Impa's gift: the second-to-last Medallion. "Wait. Before the shadow beast died, I heard you whisper something. What was it?"_

_ Sorrow passes over her features. "For my people."_

_ "I'm sorry."_

"_You have nothing to reproach yourself for. The Sheikah will be at peace when their tormentor is vanquished." She has every reason to hate Ganondorf, but somehow she says this without a trace of malice._

_ "Thank you, Impa," I say. "For everything."_

"_Link." Her last words: "May the way of the Hero lead to the Triforce..."_


	35. Remnant

Chapter 34: Remnant

_For out of Jerusalem shall go a remnant,  
__and out of Mount Zion a band of survivors._

~Isaiah 37:32, ESV

* * *

Link walked at Epona's side, holding the reins but not quite ready to jump into the saddle. He took in the air of the ranch with a deep breath, finding comfort in the smell of soil and manure and wood smoke.

He felt her touch on his left shoulder. "You were almost killed back there. You don't have to keep doing this."

"I do," he whispered. "They say a Hero will come when Hyrule is at its weakest." He slid his hand down the sheath of the Master Sword. "The man who controls Hyrule, Ganondorf Dragmire, can only be defeated by one weapon: the weapon carried by the Hero of Time."

"Sounds like a fairy tale," she muttered.

"It is a fairy tale," he said, "but everything about it has come true…so far. At first, I did it because I thought it was the only way to save my friends in the forest. Now, I have friends all over Hyrule whose fate depends on my battle with Ganon. I never knew my own parents, but my mother died bringing me to the forest. She was a Hylian…and the only way to honor her is to make sure the city she lived in is free."

"I guess," Malon said, her voice choked up with unshed tears, "I guess there's not much I can say to that."

Link paused, turning around to face her. "Thank you for your help, Malon."

"I…" Turning red, she folded her arms and looked downward, refusing to meet his gaze.

He held out his hand. "I'll be fine. Tell your father not to worry. By now, Ganon probably knows he lost the ranch, but I don't think he'll attack yet."

She nodded mutely without acknowledging his hand.

With a sigh, Link climbed into the saddle and turned to face the mouth of the ranch. "Goodbye…and thank you for the provisions."

"Don't mention it." She kicked the side of the barn with a huff.

"Bye, Malon," Navi said.

Link turned around in the saddle long enough to wave, then he took the reins in both hands and trotted Epona westward, away from the ranch. Impa had said he would find what he needed in Ganondorf's birthplace, Gerudo Desert, so that was where he had decided to turn.

* * *

Her ponytail bobbed in the hot winds blowing from the wastes. A sandstorm had risen and would soon engulf all the outlying villages that surrounded Gerudo Fortress, but she needed time to think before taking shelter, so she wandered the lonely alleys between the primitive stone dwellings of Parapa, her birthplace, turning her eyes inward.

_"You are the new leader of the Gerudos in place of your mother."_

The young woman shivered, her memory a place of cold but necessary reflection.

_"Today, you must prove your ability to lead us into a new era of conquest."_

"What must I do?" she said out loud, as if the event were happening all over again. She fingered the scimitar at her hip and swallowed.

_"This man is accused of seducing one of our number. You know the penalty."_

"I…can't."

_"Obey or suffer his fate."_

The line of her jaw hardened as she recalled the silence of her companions, the flash of her own sword, and the screams of the victim. She had trained in the arts of the sword all her life, so she knew where to strike and how to make it appear to the others as if the man had died. Later, she had recovered his body and nourished him back to health in secret. She had paid for that, and the man was later killed in his sleep—but to her, it was worth it, because it set her apart from the Gerudos. From those who called themselves Gerudos.

"Ah, there she is, Koume." Someone cackled at the mouth of the alley, behind her.

"You're right, Kotake. Strange for one of our leaders to be keeping to herself at such a time, isn't it?"

The young woman turned to face the two old hags that had crept up behind her, their long noses protruding from robes sewn with ominous runes. "I have no desire to avoid my duties."

"Oh ho." One turned to the other with that same obnoxious cackle. "Is that why we were looking for her, Kotake?"

"Don't you remember, Koume? We were going to tell her about the storehouse."

"Yes, that was it, wasn't it? The storehouse."

Kotake, her skin alive with a subtle blue radiance, shuffled forward. "We know you counted the stores of grain and oil and water only last week, dear, but we wanted to help you by checking them again."

Koume, her body illumined by a soft orange glow, grinned, showing her large white teeth. "She hasn't been counting very well, has she?"

"Someone's been sneaking into the storehouse and taking extra food and water for themselves. Isn't that odd? Someone must have found out when your inspections are."

Nabooru folded her arms and glared back at them, refusing to buckle under their veiled accusations. "The offender will be found out and punished."

"Oh yes." The twins cackled in unison. "We know she will, don't we?"

"Is there anything further?" Nabooru raised an eyebrow.

"She wants to know," Kotake said. "Was that all we wanted to say to her, Koume?"

"I think that was it, Kotake." Koume waved and turned to face the street. "We'll be seeing you, dear."

Kotake raised her voice so that it echoed. "Don't get caught out in the storm."

Nabooru waited until they were out of sight, then she shuddered. She was running out of time. Somehow, she had kept up her ruse, hiding the truth even from Ganondorf himself—but if the witches acted on their suspicions, it would be the end of her and those under her protection.

Another noise drew her attention to the street. At first, she thought the witches had stayed around to spy on her, but the sound was too heavy to be one of their moccasins. She heard two voices, one deep but youthful, the other high-pitched like a baby's giggle.

They were outsiders, she thought. The men and women of the valley would have found shelter by now.

She drew her scimitar and hugged the wall of the alley to await their passing.

* * *

Link had dismounted when they reached the desert to give Epona a chance to recover. He fed her a carrot from the saddlebags Malon had packed and took a cold chicken breast for himself. Soon after, the wind had picked up, and particles of sand were finding their way into everything, including the saddlebags. Even a vague idea of what they were looking for would have helped, but so far, nothing had stuck out, and the weather wasn't making it any easier.

"Why don't we ask the sand for directions?" Navi said.

Link snorted, clutching the scarf Malon had loaned him more tightly around his face as he led Epona through the streets of a village they had stumbled on just before the storm hit.

"Maybe some of the people here are friendly."

He shook his head. "Everyone here is probably a Gerudo or friendly to the Gerudos."

They passed several rough-hewn buildings, all with walls marked by hundreds of tiny chinks made by previous sandstorms. Not a soul in sight.

Link paused at what appeared to be a crossroad, though it was hard to tell with the sand in his eyes. Aside from the way forward, there was a path veering off to his left through another row of buildings, and on his right he saw an alley that came to a dead end.

As soon as he turned away from the alley to try the other street, he sensed there was someone behind him.

"Watch out, Link!"

With Navi's warning ringing in his ear, he rolled to the side, narrowly avoiding the amputation of his left arm by scimitar. Following through with a somersault, he came to his feet and swung at his attacker with the Master Sword. The blade failed to find a target.

He tried to take in a deep breath, but the wind blasted him full in the face, filling his teeth and nostrils with sand. He staggered back and would have fallen, but someone held him up, pinning his left arm behind his back and pressing the sharp edge of a blade against his neck.

"Identify yourself."

Link swallowed, but his demeanor remained calm. "I'm Link. This is Navi." A lie would have done more harm than good, he thought.

"I am Nabooru."

He smiled to himself. "If you had wanted my name, you could have asked for it with a handshake instead of a sword."

"Such introductions are customary among my people," the voice said, clearly female.

"So I've learned."

"Your business here?"

"Sightseeing."

The woman laughed. "A better liar would have chosen a better lie…or better weather for sightseeing."

"Hey," Navi said. "Let him go!"

* * *

Nabooru struggled to contain her apprehension. "Stay back, fairy." As soon as she had seen the young man's clothing and the fairy that accompanied him, she knew that this was the boy they all whispered about in secret. The boy that had dared to challenge Ganondorf's scheme for Hyrule.

The boy's voice startled her. "Are we going to stand like this until we're drowned by the sand?"

"Silence!" She tried to maintain an air of superiority, but his presence had thrown her into a fever of anxiety.

"I know it's unlikely, but I don't suppose you could offer us shelter?" His tone betrayed sarcasm, but it also suggested a way out.

"Yes," she said quickly. "There is shelter nearby." Removing her sword from his neck, she released him with a shove.

"Thank you." He turned to face her.

"I am sorry," she said. "This is the only way."

The hilt of the scimitar came down with a thud.

* * *

Link groaned and came to with a raw bruise on the back of his head that spread a throbbing through his skull like thunder every few seconds. When he tried to remember where he was, all he could summon were a few indistinct images of the sandstorm, the village, and the Gerudo woman who had confronted him. What had happened after that was shrouded in the fog of unconsciousness.

"Navi?" He blinked and tried to adjust to the dark. A harsh jangling, like metal scraping stone, startled him. Even more surprising was a man's voice from somewhere on his left.

"You're awake? Good."

Link sat up only to find that his hands were bound to the wall with chains. "Who?"

The man's voice was gentle, confident. "Easy, son."

There was a light seeping through the cracks of a closed wooden shutter across from him, near the ceiling. It was just enough to help Link make out the outlines of the man's face.

It was hard to tell his age. He might have been young, not much older than Link himself, but for the lines of experience in his forehead. His voice was deep and his bearing firm, even in manacles.

"Who are you?" Link swallowed the bile rising in his throat. The heat in the cell made his skin sticky with sweat.

"My name is Arswaine." His gaze was steady but unobtrusive, as if he were subtly appraising Link. "Consider yourself among friends."

More chains rattled in the silence around them. Link squinted until he saw the shapes of other prisoners, all of them sitting or lying against the wall. "You're all from the villages?"

"A few of us are here out of our own foolishness," said Arswaine. "Most of us are here for defending our homes, our families…and our true King."

_King?_ Link wanted to ask what that meant, but he had other concerns. "There was a fairy with me…"

"Outside," someone else said. "She's guarding the door."

_Doesn't make any sense, _Link thought. "How long have I been here?"

"A few hours." Arswaine turned away as if satisfied with his observations of the newcomer. "That man over there, Sabooro? He and three of his friends—all carpenter's apprentices—were thrown in here for trying to join the Gerudos."

The other man that had spoken spoke again. "We thought we were going to be the only men among all those women. First one we wink at clobbers us half to death and throws us in separate dungeons."

Link smiled. "How long have the rest of you been here?"

Arswaine kept his eyes fixed on the opposite wall. "Seven years."

"Seven…" Link would have clutched his forehead if the chains had allowed him. "Then you're…"

"We are the remnant of the force that defended Hyrule Castle Town from Ganondorf." Arswaine spoke quietly, but his voice carried dignity. "We are the last of the Knights of Hyrule."


	36. The Legend Grows

Chapter 35: The Legend Grows

"How did you survive?" Link's words came slowly as he struggled with the Knight's revelation. "I saw what he did to the city."

Arswaine's shoulders stood rigid at the memory. "Some of us were kept alive so that Ganondorf could use us as symbols of his domination over Hyrule. He wanted us and all the other races to know that he held the power of life and death in his hands."

"But seven years…" Link shook his head. "It's too long. If that's all he wanted, you would have served your purpose a lot sooner."

"Yes. If Ganondorf knew we were alive, he would have had us killed long ago."

"He doesn't know you're here?" Link closed his eyes and leaned his head back against the cell wall. "It's probably a long story, but it looks like we're going to be here for a while."

"Perhaps." Arswaine rested his hands on his knees. "Of those who survived the first weeks, he took the strongest among us and executed them at the entrance to the valley. They say the bodies were dumped into Lake Hylia as a warning to the Zoras. A week later, some dozens more were killed and their corpses piled on the trail that leads to Goron City. The rest of us were left to die of starvation."

"Who told Ganon you were dead?" Link's question hung in the air as if Arswaine were waiting for him to answer it himself. "It was that girl, wasn't it? Nabooru. She seemed nervous about something."

"Nabooru has kept us alive at her peril," Arswaine said. "As his second-in-command, she holds administrative authority over the Gerudos. For seven years, she has stolen food from his storehouses and brought it to us in secret. When it seemed right for us to begin dying off, she begged the duty of carrying the bodies of Ganondorf's enemies to their graves. Alone."

Link opened his eyes and stared at the ceiling as if dumbstruck. "Go on."

"One night, she carried three of us to the common grave with enough food to last six days. Each night after that, she carried more, until all of us had been thrown into the pit. She could have left us to survive on our own in the desert, but between the sandstorms and Gerudo patrols, she believed it would be more of a risk than hiding us here."

"So she brought you back to your prison, and no one found out, because they all believed you were dead." Link whistled. "Unbelievable."

The scrape of stone on stone brought their attention to a hole opening in the north wall. No one had any difficulty identifying the two figures entering the dungeon as Navi and Nabooru.

Link held up his chained wrists. "I don't know what to say. If you hadn't thrown me in here, I wouldn't have known that the Knights of Hyrule were still alive…"

"But you don't understand why I brought you here to begin with?" Nabooru folded her arms around her midriff. "Confusion is understandable."

"Well? You're a Gerudo, but you don't seem to be one of Ganondorf's servants."

She spat. "I _am_ his servant, however unwillingly. My mother was his chief adviser, and when she died I was required to take her place…or be executed as a traitor."

Sabooro the carpenter snorted. "How could they do that to a pretty thing like you?"

Ignoring the carpenter, Nabooru stepped closer to Link. "There are rumors among our people of a boy who carries a sword feared by our master. A boy who fought against him seven years ago and suddenly disappeared."

Link glanced at Navi. "Do we know anyone like that?"

"I don't think so," Navi said, giggling.

Nabooru smiled. "You are not as modest as you would like others to think."

"For someone I've just met, you seem to know a lot about me."

Bending down on one knee, the Gerudo unstrapped a small leather sack from her left ankle, just inside the cuff of her pink silk pantaloons, and tossed it at Link.

Link caught the sack in midair, his chains rattling slightly with the motion. Before he emptied the contents of the sack into his hands, he paused. "If no one knows we're here, why are we still chained?"

Nabooru stood to her feet. "A precaution. This dungeon was intended for those who commit the highest crimes against our people. For instance, a villager found guilty of murdering a Gerudo would be taken here, and you would be discovered. Finding you chained, most of my subordinates would consult me before taking any action. At the least, it would buy time."

Navi whispered in Link's ear. "Do you think Nabooru might be the other Sage?"

Link shrugged. "Sheik said none of the Sages knew who they were. Even if _we_ could be sure, Nabooru probably wouldn't believe us. We have to find the temple first."

Catching the movement of Link's lips, Nabooru folded her arms again. "You don't trust me. I don't blame you."

"It's not that." Link glanced at Navi. It's just…there's something we need to do here, in the desert." Upending the sack, he munched on a few chunks of bread and beef that fell into his hands. "But you. If you wanted to help me, why didn't you just let me go?"

"You had no sense of stealth. When I heard you coming in the storm, I knew you were from outside the valley, because any villager would have taken shelter. Had I not brought you here, I'm sure you would have blundered your way into a trap." She hung her head, continuing in a low voice. "I admit I'm a thief, too, but I'm not like the rest. Ganondorf has always stolen from the helpless, and he will kill anyone who resists."

"Then we both want the same thing." Link clenched his jaw. "To see him answer for Hyrule's suffering."

"Yes…and you're right. I _could_ have let you go, but even if you are who they say you are, you'll never reach Ganondorf's castle on your own. I haven't been told about all his plans, but I know his army grows by the day. If the people of Hyrule don't fight him now, his power will continue to grow, and he'll invade their lands one at a time."

"You know the desert. Will you help me find the place I'm looking for?"

"Yes."

Once again, Sabooro the carpenter interrupted. "You lost me when you started talking about legends and rumors and magic swords."

"I suspect anything more than drink and women would be beyond your capacity," Nabooru muttered.

The Knight Arswaine, who had been content to listen until now, spoke up. "Never let it be said that one Gerudo had more courage than twenty Knights of Hyrule." He swept his gaze from side to side. "By Din, I swear my aid in any venture that confounds the will of Ganondorf."

A chorus of agreement swelled from the rest of the Knights. Link felt their courage livening his spirits.

Sabooro grunted. "This may be fine for all of you, but my friends are still locked up in the fortress…if they haven't been killed by now."

Link raised an eyebrow. "How did you end up here if they're in the fortress?"

"The whole thing was my fault, really. The woman walked right by us. What could I do but wink at her? Then she cracks me over the head with the shaft of her spear, calls half-a-dozen of her friends over, and has us all behind bars before we know what's happening."

"It was fortunate I saw the…incident." Nabooru fixed her eyes on Link and did not look at the carpenter. "Gerudo law strictly regulates contact between men and women. As the first of the perpetrators, Sabooro had to be punished more severely than the rest. Of course, I demanded the responsibility of bringing him here myself. Otherwise, the idiot would have betrayed us all."

"Maybe…" Link watched Sabooro's expression. Then suddenly, he asked, "Can any of you make arrows?"

Sabooro grinned. "Why do you think they let us near the fortress to begin with? Ours are the best arrows around. We sell them here all the time. Arrows, spears, shields, you name it. If it's got wood in it, we can build it."

Arswaine nodded at Link. "I know where your thoughts lie, my friend."

Link turned to the Knight. "We probably don't have much time. If this is going to work, we'll have to divide ourselves into three groups. I suggest you take two of your best men and free the rest of the carpenters. Send the rest of your men east with Sabooro to Kokiri Forest; they can begin preparing what we'll need to face Ganondorf's army. Nabooru, Navi, and I will meet you when we've finished what _we_ have to do, and we'll all join your men at the forest."

"Captain." One of the other Knights raised his voice. "I will follow wherever you send, but I would ask one thing."

"Yes?" Arswaine looked up.

"That we know who we follow, sir."

Arswaine turned back to Link. "My men would ask why you are feared among the Gerudos. I confess, though I would trust Nabooru's word with my life, I too would ask what legend this is that has fallen among us."

"Tell them, Link," said Navi. "Tell them who you are!"

It was the first time Link had ever been asked to shoulder the burden of so many men who were probably older and more experienced in war than he would ever be. He took a breath and hoped he would prove worthy of the task ahead.

"I am…the Hero of Time."

* * *

**Sorry, guys. I know it's been longer than usual since I updated. I decided to make it up to you, my faithful readers, by uploading _four_ chapters instead of the usual two. This takes us all the way to the end of Part Two. The next update will begin Part Three, "The Imprisoning War." Brace yourselves for the home stretch.**

**You'll have noticed more additions than ever to the original storyline this time around. First of all, there's Malon's presence in the Shadow Temple. I truly felt like sending Link back through time just to grab the Lens of Truth would be an unnecessary rabbit trail that would just slow the story's momentum down, kind of like the Ice Cavern. But I didn't want to do away with the Lens of Truth altogether, so I made up a way for Link to get ahold of it in the future.**

**I always thought those chains and streaks of blood in the Shadow Temple were creepy, and I wanted to explore why they were there. So as you can see, I invented a nasty backstory involving the Sheikah and Ganondorf. I hope you...well, "like" isn't exactly the right word, but I hope you found it satisfying.**

**Perhaps one of the boldest additions I make to the original storyline throughout the entire novel is the addition of the Knights of Hyrule. Yeah, it's kind of crazy to imagine that some of them would have survived for that long, ESPECIALLY in the middle of Gerudo territory. But it certainly allows Nabooru an opportunity to show off her courage and her ingenuity...and it gives us an excuse to set up an epic-scale battle with Ganondorf's army. Epic-scale battles have never been part of the Zelda series except in exposition and other forms of off-stage storytelling, but I felt like we needed something grand to finish with. So please look forward to reading the bang-up climax, coming your way in a few weeks' time!**

**That's it for now, folks. But I'll try to get back to my regularly scheduled updates from now on. Enjoy!**


	37. Desert Colossus

**Part Three: The Imprisoning War**

* * *

Chapter 36: Desert Colossus

_For I and he are of such different kinds  
__that no service which is vile can be done to me,  
__and no service which is not vile can be done to him._

~C.S. Lewis, _The Last Battle_

* * *

That night, long after the sun had set, Gerudo Valley lay silent under a panoply of stars. Nothing stirred in the outlying villages; though the sandstorm had ended hours ago, no one, be he man or beast, seemed willing to brave the elements, as if the god who controlled the weather had it in his mind to bury them in another storm the minute they stepped outside.

Thus, the only mortals who had a chance of monitoring the night's events as they happened were the guards in and immediately encircling Gerudo Fortress. Though watchful, few were as vigilant at this hour as they would have been in the daytime. Seven years after their lord had conquered the greatest city in all Hyrule, a concerted attack seemed unlikely, anyway.

A door opened somewhere in the fortress. This was nothing unusual, except it was a door that shouldn't have opened at all. Twenty-three people and a fairy hung back in the shadows just inside the door.

Nabooru whispered to Arswaine. "If you are still uncertain of the way, I will stay behind. Time is critical, but it would be far worse to lose three good soldiers."

"I will free these men," Arswaine said, "and no life will be lost, Hylian or Gerudo."

After a short pause, three of the figures detached themselves from the main group and slipped deeper into the fortress. Two, accompanied by the fairy, crept outside the fortress and made their way to the desert, stopping only to retrieve a pair of horses at the edge of the grounds.

The eighteen men left behind waited to give the others time, then they too left the fortress, found the horses Nabooru had readied for them in an isolated corner of the grounds, and led the animals beyond the eyes and ears of the Gerudo before galloping east, into the night.

No one saw them leave. No one knew they were there to begin with.

* * *

Link glanced over at his companion as Epona cantered across the sand dunes. "Thank you. I don't know what I would have done without a guide in this place."

Nabooru returned his glance with a smirk. "Yet I was not the guide you might have expected. You believed all Gerudos were evil, so you were surprised when one risked her life for you."

Link turned away with a blush. "I…don't know what to say."

"Hey." Navi peeked out from Epona's saddlebags. "How much farther?"

Nabooru laughed. "You are fortunate in your companions, Hero of Time."

Link kicked the saddlebags. "Navi, if you ask that one more time…"

The horses continued for nearly an hour, sometimes slowing, sometimes speeding up. When both began to show signs of fatigue, Nabooru reined in, and Link followed her lead. They dismounted on the far side of a dune facing west, well out of sight of Gerudo Fortress. After feeding the horses, they took some food for themselves and sat cross-legged on the sand to eat it.

Link munched on a block of cheese and watched as Navi chased a cloud of gnats in circles around the dune. "What do you know about the temple?"

"Our ancestors carved it from the side of a mountain," Nabooru said. "They called it the Spirit Temple, but it was so large that some referred to it as the Desert Colossus. It is the soul of our people, our place for worshipping Din, the creator of Hyrule. Much to my people's shame, it is also where some of our greatest atrocities have been committed."

Link nodded and bit down on a piece of bread, saying nothing.

"Once, our worship of Din was undefiled. Now it is cursed by the blood on our altars. The blood of Hylians. The blood of women and children. The blood of the Knights of Hyrule."

Link met Nabooru's gaze. "But not all Gerudos accept this?"

"No." Nabooru lowered her eyes to the ground. "I have never accepted it. There are others who feel as I do, but I have never had the courage to seek them out. There are many who fear Ganondorf. Others desire my position, and if I were to voice my doubts, those doubts would find their way to Ganondorf, and I would be executed. The only reason I'm here…"

Link watched her dark eyes moisten with tears.

"I…" Nabooru shook her head. "I cannot go on."

Link laid a hand on her shoulder. "All that matters is what you did for me back there. You don't have to tell me everything."

"Thank you." She wiped her eyes and stood to her feet. "There is one other thing you should know about the temple."

"Yes?"

"It is the home of Koume and Kotake, the twin sorceresses who oversee every sacrifice made to Din. They are responsible for the corruption of the Gerudos. They are older than any of us, including Ganondorf himself. It was they who raised him in his youth."

Link finished the last bites of his food. "I take it you're not friendly with them."

"They suspect me of deception, but they've never accused me of it directly." With that, Nabooru mounted her horse.

Link remained in thought, unmoving. "Nabooru, do you believe what I told you?"

This brought on another smirk. "That you are the 'Hero of Time,' destined to defeat the King of Evil with the help of the Six Sages? Yes, I believe there is truth in this story."

"Then you know what we'll have to do once we get to the temple? If Koume and Kotake are the reason for the evil there, there's only one way to get rid of it and find the last Sage."

"I understand."

* * *

Arswaine peered around a corner into the first cellblock. Wall-mounted torches cast a red light onto the floor and reflected off the iron bars of the cells. Behind him, two other Knights disposed of an unconscious Gerudo by wedging her body between two crates so that it lay hidden from all but the closest observer.

"I see no other guards," said Arswaine. Silently, he noted that Ganondorf's absence from the fortress had encouraged a lack of discipline.

"Sir." Daphnes, Arswaine's third-in-command, stepped up. "I ask to be the first."

Arswaine waved him on.

Drawing the scimitar Nabooru had entrusted to him, Daphnes moved into the room. As he passed in front of the first cell, they all heard a grunt.

"Say. First time I've seen another man around here in days."

"Silence," Daphnes hissed as he approached the cell. "Follow and remain quiet."

"Who—"

Arswaine advanced while the third knight, Glamis, watched the corridor they had come from. "Everything will be explained when we have escaped. For now, we are fellow prisoners of the Gerudos, but Sabooro is free."

The man in the cell chuckled. "Even if you _aren't_ pulling my leg, you'll never get me out without at least one of them knowing. The cell guard keeps the key by her hip."

"Yes." Arswaine kept his eye on the doorway at the other end of the cellblock. "We know of their customs."

A faint jangling of metal prevented any further response Arswaine or Daphnes would have given. Separating, they took their positions, one at each side of the door opposite Glamis.

The guard stiffened as she entered the room. Glamis had folded his arms and was staring at her from the other doorway, smiling. Before she could speak a word, something hard crashed down on her skull, and she fell with a gasp barely audible. Daphnes slid the key ring off her belt.

"I'm Jiro." The carpenter, mustachioed and bare-chested except for a thin vest, stuck his hand out to his rescuers. "Whoever you are, thanks. Those women aren't worth the trouble."

Arswaine shook his head. "I fear you have not met enough of them to judge that, friend."

"You say that, and they threw you in here, too?" Jiro snorted. "How many do I need to meet?"

Daphnes gripped the carpenter's hand firmly. "One."

* * *

The change from towering knolls of sand to a flat plain came suddenly. Nabooru motioned for Link to dismount, but before she did likewise, she scanned the horizon ahead and to their rear. Once aground, she held the horse's reins in her left hand and drew a scimitar with the other.

They paced through the sand for another five minutes before the ground sank into a natural enclosure with cliffs rising on both sides. In the distance ahead of them, where the valley seemed to come to a dead end, a mountain jutted from the desert floor.

"Wow," Navi said.

Link nodded. It wasn't as big as Death Mountain, but he understood why it had been called the Desert Colossus. Inside the eastern face of the mountain, the rock had been carved away to form the shape of a woman sitting cross-legged, palms upward. The image must have been at least two hundred feet high.

They tied their horses to a pair of palm trees at the southern end of the enclosure and approached the Colossus. Now that her left hand was free, Nabooru had drawn another scimitar. She led them to a stair directly in front of the Colossus. Just beyond lay the entrance to the Spirit Temple.

"At last, the time of the Six approaches."

They had all sensed the movement behind them before they heard the voice. Link showed little sign of surprise, as if he had expected it. Nabooru, on the other hand, spun around, her scimitars stopping within inches of Sheik's chest.

The boy remained still, eyeing her calmly. He glanced at Link. "You have done well."

Link shrugged. "Thanks to you, my shadow."

Sheik's eyes flickered in the moonlight streaming over the shoulder of the Colossus. "The Knights of Hyrule survive thanks to the care of a Gerudo brave enough to stand against her King."

Nabooru slowly withdrew the scimitars. "Who are you, and why do you confront us in the middle of the night like a…thief?"

"I come to teach the Hero of Time a melody that will allow him to return here at need."

Link raised the Ocarina of Time to his lips and waited for Sheik to begin.

"Hear the Requiem of Spirit." Sheik plucked the first tingling notes on his harp. The music was slow and melancholy, though somehow more hopeful than the Nocturne of Shadow. The boy breathed a sigh as if the Requiem had released some burden he had been holding against his will. "Link," he whispered, "when we meet again, it will be for the last time."

With trembling hands, Link put away the Ocarina. "Please," he said. "Stay just once."

"I will return when the Sages are gathered. At that time, all will be revealed."

"Hey." Seeing Link's distress, Nabooru stepped forward as if she would hold the boy in place, but a blast of sand—unaccountable because there was no wind—had screened Sheik from view. When it passed, Sheik was gone.

"What's wrong, Link?" Navi landed gently on his left shoulder. "It's only Sheik."

"I know." Link wiped his forehead of a sudden sweat. "I don't know why; I just felt…nervous around him this time."

Nabooru scowled. "A hero who cannot control his fear is little use against great evils."

Link drew the Master Sword and turned to face the entrance to the Spirit Temple. "It wasn't fear. That much I'm sure of…"


	38. The Mirror Shield

Chapter 37: The Mirror Shield

The Knights crept through Gerudo Fortress with Jiro the carpenter trailing behind. If Nabooru had been correct, they were nearing the second and more heavily guarded of the three cellblocks.

Jiro licked his lips. "Sure there's no food hidden in those rags? Haven't seen a crumb in days."

Glamis poked the man in the back with the tip of his sword. "Silence."

Arswaine and Daphnes stopped as the corridor came to a tee. Pressing themselves against the left-hand wall, they gestured for the others to do the same. Seconds later, a Gerudo carrying a long wooden pole with a curved blade on its tip passed by.

Daphnes smacked her forehead with the hilt of his scimitar. The woman blinked twice but remained conscious. Daphnes swung again to finish the job and, with Arswaine's assistance, pulled the unfortunate woman back into the corridor.

At a nod from Glamis, who had been watching for other guards, the four of them took the right-hand branch of the tee, but before they had gone much farther, another Gerudo came out of a side corridor, some thirty feet distant. Seeing them at once, she spun around and sprinted back the way she had come.

Arswaine rushed after her, and the others followed in pursuit, casting stealth aside in order to catch her before she alerted her comrades. She managed to stay just out of reach, and her course circled back on itself so that it was impossible to tell her destination at first. Finally, she broke off and headed in one direction.

"I don't know how long I can keep this up," Jiro huffed. "The only exercise I've had lately is a beating or two."

Arswaine brought them to a halt as they came to the edge of the cellblock. They had lost sight of the Gerudo, but she had certainly passed this way.

"I will go," said Daphnes. "If they wait in ambush, the rest of you may yet escape."

"No." Glamis jostled his way forward. "My absence at the battle would make less of a difference than yours, Daphnes."

Arswaine held up a hand. "No man is unimportant in this."

"Heck." Jiro pushed his way between Arswaine and Daphnes and stomped into the cellblock. "What's a few more days in a Gerudo dungeon?"

The others followed more cautiously while the carpenter looked around the room. His eyes fell on the two prison cells, identical to the pair in the first cellblock. As before, there were no guards immediately present.

An atrocious snore greeted them from the rightmost of the two cells. Jiro grabbed the bars with both hands and dropped to his knees. "Shiro!"

Glamis peered over the carpenter's shoulder. Like Jiro, the man in the cell had a bushy brown mustache and a thin vest dangling across a broad chest. "Your brother?"

"The name gives it away, eh?" Jiro laughed. "Snored like a pig since he was four."

Daphnes, still carrying the key to the first cellblock, tried it on Shiro's cell and found that it worked there as well. Jiro yanked the door open, rushed in, and shook his brother awake.

"Jiro?" Shiro coughed loudly, his voice dry from lack of water. "How'd you get here?"

"Come on," Jiro said, helping his brother to his feet. "They're getting us out of here."

With Shiro stumbling beside his brother in a daze, the five of them moved toward the farther exit, which would take them to the final cellblock. They had almost made it when the guard they had been chasing reappeared just beyond the doorway with three of her comrades.

Shiro swore. "Looks like they're getting us in more trouble than we were to start with."

Daphnes veered to the left to secure the door they had entered through—but that way, too, had been blocked by Gerudos. The three Knights traded glances and surrounded the two carpenters, swords at the ready.

The guard they had chased spoke first. "You must have thieving skills worthy of the Gerudos to have released these men."

"I would consider your words an insult," said Arswaine, "were it not for the intention behind them."

"Surrender may spare you the more severe penalties of our law."

"We would die before abandoning our purpose."

"Very well." The woman smiled, drawing her scimitar and pointing the blade at the Knights. "Take them."

* * *

Link knew something was wrong when he saw Nabooru's shoulders tense. She had led him from the ground floor of the Spirit Temple to the second floor without encountering so much as a rat. But something was making her uneasy.

He watched as she sniffed the air. "What is it?"

"You have killed, but you have never smelled death?" She looked at him. "Breathe in."

He did. All at once, the acrid odor in the air reached his nostrils, and he gagged.

Her mouth hardened into a thin line. "That is the smell of flesh burning. Human flesh."

The farther they went, the worse it got. Link swallowed when they turned a corner and came to a stairway. The ceiling, now only a few feet away, rose to a height of some eighty feet by the time the stairway ended, leading into a cavernous shrine at the heart of the temple.

The fire burned on an altar less than thirty feet beyond the stairs, but they couldn't see what was in it. Breathing hard, Nabooru descended the stairs and approached the flames. Link followed discreetly until suddenly Nabooru threw down her scimitars and fell to her knees.

"Muhjah!"

Link made no attempt to silence Nabooru's grief, though if Koume and Kotake were near, they would surely have heard the scream. Glancing at the fire, he saw the remains of a human being lying on the grate of the altar.

Nabooru's tears stained the ground at her feet. Again, she screamed. "Why, Muhjah?"

Torn between his respect and a sense of the danger they were in, Link helped her back to her feet. "I'm sorry," he said, struggling to hold her up. "She must have been beautiful."

Slowly, her muscles relaxed so that he could let go of her without worrying that she would fall again. She closed her eyes and nodded. "Muhjah…was my closest companion for many years. There was a time when I thought if anyone could be trusted, it was her."

"But?"

Her voice, though broken, had begun to seethe with anger. "To trust her with my doubts would have been to risk everything. After the conquest of Hyrule Castle Town, we did not share the friendship we once had. She was always on some service for Koume and Kotake. I hated what had happened to her, but I have kept the memory of our friendship alive in spite of it."

Navi brushed the Gerudo's shoulder. "Why would they want to kill her?"

Nabooru wiped her eyes, though fresh tears continued to roll down her face. "She failed them. They ordered her to Lon Lon Ranch to buy or steal horses, because it was controlled by a man who served Ganondorf. Instead, she and the other warriors were repulsed, and the owner of the ranch renounced his claim, returning it to the man he had stolen it from.

Two distinct thoughts occurred to Link at once. "Will they attack the ranch?"

"They will attack when Ganondorf's army leaves Hyrule Castle Town, but not before. The ranch was a small holding, so Ganondorf would not take vengeance in such a case unless he could do it without distracting from his plans for Hyrule itself."

Link held his breath. _Muhjah was one of the women in the barn,_ he thought. _They killed her because I stopped their plans._

Navi whispered in his ear. "It's okay. It's not your fault, Link."

"There is another reason they may have had in mind when they killed her," Nabooru said.

Link nodded and picked up her scimitars for her. "To get to you?"

Nabooru clenched the scimitars until the skin on her knuckles turned white. "They wanted to let me know how easily they could control my heart. They will not get the results they expect."

A growl brought them back to the present. Link brought his sword up and groped for his shield, but Nabooru was already in action. A half-human shape had slithered out of the shadows behind the altar. With both swords spinning, she lunged at it, and the clang of steel echoed in the shrine.

Link saw it was a lizard with human form, like those he had seen in the Fire Temple. Nabooru flicked at its right wrist with both blades at once, cutting off the sword hand so that the dagger and the hand fell together. The creature reared back with a roar, exposing its neck to a jab that punctured its windpipe, killing it instantly.

"Come," she said, turning away from the altar. "There will be many more behind it."

* * *

The three Knights held their position around the carpenters and waited for the Gerudos to come at them. Four guards came at once, two from either side.

Arswaine fought the two on his side while Glamis and Daphnes held off the others. In seven years of captivity, it had been difficult to maintain the level of skill they once possessed, but Nabooru had let them out of their chains on occasion to practice with her, teaching them all the techniques of her people.

While the Gerudos were focused on the Knights, Jiro waited for an opportunity to assist. Finally, when one of the guards turned her back on him, he reached out and yanked her left arm back so that she screamed and spun on him with her sword sweeping down on his head. At the last possible moment, he grabbed the wrist of her sword arm and struck her forehead with his.

"Sorry," he mumbled as she crumpled to the ground, out cold.

Daphnes had defeated his opponent and turned to assist Arswaine. Three more Gerudos rushed forward to fill the gap left by the two on the ground, and Daphnes was forced to turn back and face them. Jiro snapped up one of the swords dropped by the woman he had hamstrung and gave the other to Shiro.

For the first time in as long as they could remember, the brothers fought for something more than food, wine, or the sight of a Gerudo woman. Somehow, the courage that gave them made up for lack of discipline. Side by side with the Knights, they managed to beat back wave after wave of guards until the room fell silent and thirteen Gerudos lay unconscious at their feet.

"We must hurry," Arswaine said, his face bloodied by several shallow cuts from a scimitar. "The sound of our combat will not have been canceled by these walls."

"We're not leaving until we find Ichiro," Shiro said.

Glamis muttered under his breath. "Shiro, Jiro, Ichiro...Sabooro?"

* * *

Navi screeched. "Why are there so many?"

Nabooru guillotined yet another Lizalfos—her name for the humanoid lizards—and shouted, "The witches are responsible for the monsters as much as Ganondorf is. If they die, these may die, too!"

Link cut down a Stalfos, one of the walking skeletons he had encountered in the other temples, and shouted back, "Are you sure you know where we're going?"

"Yes. I've known this temple since I was a child!"

They broke away from the clutch of monsters and sprinted up two stairways through a door leading into a smaller chamber used for ceremonial functions. Here, spears, poleaxes, and shields decorated the walls, and a red carpet running the length of the floor ended at another doorway.

"What's _that?"_ said Navi.

Blocking their path to the other doorway was a gigantic suit of armor ribbed with spikes and reinforced with thick iron plates. Link shuddered when he saw it. The battleaxe it held in its lifeless arms might have felled the Great Deku Tree.

Nabooru barreled straight towards the door as if the suit wasn't there. "The witches can bring almost anything alive with their magic. Once, a villager who found his way here thought he could take the armor apart and sell the metal to buy food."

Link glanced behind them to make sure the monsters hadn't caught up with them yet. "What happened?"

Instead of a reply, Nabooru grabbed the battleaxe by the middle of the handle and sprang onto the shoulders of the suit. The moment she touched it, the suit trembled and awoke with a grumble of its iron joints. Finding a prowler on its shoulders, it swung the axe, missing Nabooru completely but embedding the blade in a pillar bordering the carpet.

Nabooru hooked her legs around the neck of the monstrosity and held on until it lifted the axe again, then she drove her scimitars into its faceplate and left them there. The suit, with a squeal of straining metal, collapsed at the knees and landed on its face, its helmet split in several pieces on the ground.

Ignoring their stares, Nabooru collected her scimitars and headed for the door, which had opened on its own when the suit collapsed. "You see they can also use their magic to keep doors locked. There are places here you would never get to without knowing how to solve their traps!"

Link grimaced. "Remind me to thank you if we make it out!"

"Wait here." Nabooru rushed through the door onto a balcony exposed to the moonlight, a sheer cliff overlooking the desert. A box rested on the edge of the cliff, but Link didn't notice what was in it, if anything, because the monsters had suddenly barged into the room in a chorus of howling and wailing.

He spun around to face them. "Nabooru?"

There was no answer.

Navi raised her voice to its highest pitch. "Nabooru?"

Any reply was drowned in the cacophony.

The two of them shouted her name in unison. The monsters were almost upon them.

A beam of moonlight entered the room from behind them, reminding Link of the erratic reflection he saw occasionally when light bounced off the Master Sword and hit a wall. This was far more intense, however.

The beam swept from side to side. Some of the monsters collapsed to the floor, clutching at their faces, while the rest milled about in confusion. Link dared not turn for fear it would have the same effect on him. After several had fallen, the survivors fled, leaving him to wonder.

"You can look now," they heard Nabooru say.

Link found her already standing at his shoulder, holding up the object she had claimed from the box on the cliff. It was a shield. Except for the rim and the back of it, both of which were blood-red, the surface was a luminous silver, as reflective as glass.

"The Mirror Shield is one of the Gerudos' sacred artifacts," Nabooru explained. "It has been in our possession for thousands of years. Some say it was a gift of Din to one of our ancestors. Others say it fell from the sky. One thing is certain: when Koume and Kotake learned of its existence, they locked it away and forbade anyone to touch it."

Link swallowed. "Why?"

"You have seen that it reflects concentrated light. I believe the reason the witches fear it is that they are afraid it will also reflect their magic."

"If you knew it was here, why didn't you use it before now?"

"It would have been foolish to attack them on my own. Even if I had killed them, Ganondorf would have taken revenge for their deaths, not only on me, but on all the villages. Now that we have some hope of defeating him, a reprisal before we can meet him in battle is far less likely."

Link smiled and ran his hand over the shield, murmuring "A gift of Din…"

* * *

**Once again, OOT veterans will have picked up on numerous additions and changes to the plot in these chapters. Actually, the gist of what happens is the same as it is in the game. Four carpenters are freed from Gerudo Fortress, and Link enters the Spirit Temple to grab the Mirror Shield. The difference is in _how_ all of this comes about. Things would have gotten really, really tedious if Link had gone with the group to rescue the other carpenters and THEN gone on to find the Spirit Temple and wake the final Sage. And don't forget that in the game, Link has to travel back in time again to beat the temple. Nixing the trip back in time and using the knights to help get both tasks (the rescue and the shield hunt) accomplished at once allows us to move the plot forward at a much more rapid pace.**

**At this stage in the story, when we're hurtling towards the final battle with Ganondorf, I'm afraid including all of the details from the game in a linear, straightforward fashion would have provoked one giant YAWN from the majority of my readers, especially those who aren't as familiar with the game.**

**I wish I could share the reason why I chose to end Chapter 36 the way I did. Let's just say it's inspired by one of my favorite moments from the official OOT manga. I can't elaborate without giving away one of OOT's biggest plot twists. Yeah, I know that at least 95% of you have played the game through at least once or have been exposed to this twist in one way or another, but hey-for the two of you who _haven't_ played the game, I'd rather not spoil it all for you.**

**BWA HA HA HA.**

**See you again soon!**


	39. Koume and Kotake

Chapter 38: Koume and Kotake

_Whoever misleads the upright into an evil way  
__will fall into his own pit._

~Proverbs 28:10

* * *

Somehow, the Knights and the carpenters, now five in all, found their way to the third cellblock without incident. Arswaine knew it should have given him hope, but the closer they came to their objective, the more he became uneasy.

By a silent agreement, they all entered the cellblock at once. As with the other blocks, there were two cells here, one of them empty. Daphnes unlocked the left-hand cell and waited for Shiro and Jiro to wake their brother. With a snort, Ichiro jolted to his feet and lunged out at them as if they were Gerudos come to rake a whip across his back.

Jiro grabbed his brother's arms and quickly whispered an explanation.

Ichiro muttered to himself. "Dreaming again…"

"No." Arswaine took one of the man's arms and led him out of the cell. "The danger is real, as are our hopes if we can complete our escape."

"Sir." Glamis spoke quietly, but the tone of his voice made them all stop and look up. A single guard had walked into the cellblock and turned to face them as if she had known they were there. She had not drawn her sword.

"Do not waste your words on denial," she said, breaking the silence. "We know who aided your escape."

Glamis tightened his grip on his scimitar. "If you know this much, you must also know that we are able to defend ourselves."

"I know far more than this. Three of you are Knights of Hyrule, a foe who should have died out long ago."

Daphnes dropped the keys to the cellblock. The guard's answer was so unlikely that he knew it would be impossible to refute. "How, in the name of the King, would you know—?"

"Nabooru was foolish to think she could hide her deception for so long. There is not a woman among the Gerudos who shares her skill for thievery; nonetheless, I have observed her without her knowledge these past three years."

"Yet…it seems you did nothing." Arswaine ran his thumb along his chin in thought. "Would you not have been rewarded for betraying us all to Ganondorf?"

The guard smiled. "Perhaps I would have been suspected as an accomplice."

Shiro scratched an elbow. "Why are we wasting time talking? There could be thirty more Gerudos lining up out there ready to spear us the minute we walk out."

"Yes." The guard's smile faded as she approached. "There are many who have waited for a moment such as this. What began seven years ago must be completed. If indeed there is a remnant of the foes of Ganondorf gathering, we must not remain idle."

Daphnes stood at Arswaine's side, ready to step between his lord and the Gerudo's blade if necessary. "You mean to stop us?"

"No." The guard bowed slightly. "We intend to serve with you."

* * *

In communion with a darkness both physical and spiritual, the two witches hovered across from one another on brooms made from the wood of the Great Deku Tree: a trophy of their conquests seven years ago. With the runes on their black robes lit in gold fire, they saw a vision of the temple and the three intruders now on their way to this place.

"Curse them." The blue witch shook a shriveled fist. "That shield should have been destroyed, Koume."

"And it will be, Kotake," said the other. "Nabooru isn't herself. We know her weakness, even when she tries to hide it, don't we? We know how to…confuse her."

"We should have killed her when we found out she was stealing food."

"But you know that would have upset Ganondorf."

Kotake said nothing, and the two of them sat in silence until the room echoed with the sound of a door closing. The vision disappeared instantly, and they swerved to face their guests.

"Looks like someone is here, Koume."

"Looks like it, Kotake."

Link and Nabooru, with Navi between them, stepped forward onto the square stage that filled most of the room.

"I knew that one day Din would repay you both for the blood on your hands." Nabooru pointed her sword at them. "I didn't know she would ask me to be part of it."

Koume chuckled. "Did you hear that, Kotake? They came to offer themselves to Din."

"Just like Muhjah," Kotake said. "She offered herself, too—and Din accepted her!"

Nabooru balled her fists. "Link…"

Link shook his head. "I won't let them control you!" With that, he took up his bow and shot an arrow at Kotake. Before it got there, a wall of ice materialized in front of the witch, and the arrow clattered to the stage, covered in frost.

"Looks like the boy wants to be first." Koume adjusted her broom so that the handle pointed at Link. Flames licked at the tips of her fingers but did not burn her skin.

"Nabooru?" Link returned the bow to its place and picked up his sword. "The Mirror Shield?" When no response came, he looked and saw that Nabooru had gone stock-still, and her eyes were brimming with an expression of absolute hatred.

Navi's voice interrupted. "Link, watch out!"

At the last minute, he rolled and avoided the fire spewing from Koume's broom. It hit the stage where he had been standing and spread out in a five-foot radius like a puddle. Nabooru had jumped away and was sprinting towards the north end of the stage. Link followed her as closely as he dared.

He heard one of the witches muttering. "Oh, he'll get a surprise now, won't he, Koume?"

A sizzling sound in the air, alike and yet different from the sound of Koume's flames, sent a warning to his brain, and he threw himself aside. From the corner of his eye, he saw the stream of ice meant for him beginning to envelop Nabooru, but somehow she twisted herself so that the Mirror Shield took the brunt of it. The magic bounced off the shield's surface, the angle such that it redirected the attack at Link.

In a split second, the ice had caked around his body, and he had lost all mobility. Navi beat herself against it, but this proved unnecessary, since the ice shattered of itself after a short time.

Before his body could readjust to the temperature of the room, he felt Nabooru push him over, and he saw her kneeling over him with one of her scimitars raised above his head, her hate-worn eyes flowing with tears. He heard Koume cackle and say, "Now we can take care of both traitors at once!"

With a grunt, he seized the wrist of Nabooru's right arm, stopping the motion of her sword. Then he grabbed her other arm, still holding the straps of the Mirror Shield, and yanked it across his body so that the shield was the first thing to meet the onslaught of Koume's flames bearing down on them. He tried to keep his arm steady so that the shield would reflect the attack back at Koume, but his strength wavered just enough for the flames to miss and strike Kotake instead.

Kotake screamed as her sister's flames boiled the ice magic flowing through her body. Steam rose from her robes. She gurgled and collapsed to the stage. Link gathered his strength so that he could push Nabooru off and try another shot at Kotake with his bow. This too proved to be unnecessary.

The moment Kotake screamed, the terrible expression had left Nabooru's face, and she became aware of herself again. "I'm sorry," she said. "They made me think you were one of—"

"Them," she had been about to say. But Link had already slid out from under her and fixed an arrow to the string. The shot pierced Kotake's right shoulder, and the witch began to convulse.

"Oh ho." Koume, hovering at her sister's side, seemed unmoved. "Time to get serious, Kotake."

Link had been reaching for another arrow, but something made him hesitate. Already, Kotake was showing signs of recovery, but it wasn't this that drew his attention. The witches had begun circling each other on their brooms, inching closer and closer and moving faster and faster with each turn until their bodies touched in a blinding explosion of fire and ice.

When the air cleared, they saw that Koume and Kotake had vanished. In their place, a much younger woman hovered over the stage, lithe and beautiful, holding both broomsticks in her hands. Instead of hair, jets of fire and ice protruded from the back of her skull like tentacles.

"Now what?" said Navi.

"We stay together," Nabooru said, glancing at Link. "When the witch attacks, use the Mirror Shield. If she falls, _I_ will attack." As she handed him the shield, her features hardened. Link thought that look more terrible than the one she had had while under their spell.

They heard a laugh, more youthful than the cackling of Koume and Kotake, and turned back to face the witch. With a sly wink, she raised the broom in her left hand, pointed it at them, and sent a column of ice spewing from the end of it.

Link stood in front of Nabooru and ducked behind the Mirror Shield, bracing himself. This time, instead of bouncing off, the magic simply died as if absorbed into the shield. A bright blue gleam the color of the ice burned on the shield's glassy surface.

He wanted to ask Nabooru what it meant, but the next volley came before the words could form on his lips. Again, the witch used the broom in her left hand, and again the ice was absorbed into the shield. The blue gleam grew fiercer.

"Their toy isn't working now, is it?" The witch floated toward them with a smile on her sun-darkened face. "How will they like our magic without it?"

"Move!" Nabooru pushed Link forward, and they dashed underneath the witch to the opposite side of the stage.

The witch turned to follow. "No way out, striplings. It's time you learned Twinrova's penalty for intruding so boldly into her temple." With this, she paused, raised the broom in her right hand, and loosed Koume's fire.

Nabooru knocked the Mirror Shield aside and shoved Link to the ground. The flames passed over, leaving Link unharmed but lighting the bottom half of Nabooru's pantaloons. She screamed and rolled over, slapping at the silken fabrics.

"Why did you do that?" Link helped her put out the flames and pulled her to her feet.

She moaned. "You saw what the flames did to Kotake, and the shield is full of her ice magic."

Link shivered at the implications of that but had little time to consider it, because the witch had lifted her left broom, and the ice gathered on the fibers. A moment later, the ice was hurtling into the shield—but this time, the reaction was different.

The shield seemed to get brighter and brighter, like a rising sun, until the blue of the ice magic became pure white. Suddenly, the light burst from the surface of the shield, and the pent-up magic spat out at the witch in a mockery of her own attacks.

Clouds of steam rolled off her body, and the wail that left her throat was more like the guttural tones of Koume and Kotake than the sensuousness of this younger self. Wobbling, she drifted to the floor, and Nabooru was there to meet her with both scimitars out.

"You made my mother a slave to Ganondorf." Nabooru gritted her teeth at the writhing heap in front of her. "You destroyed the worship of Din and tried to make us slaves to your so-called laws and your perversions." She paused. "Your years of bloodshed are over."

Link winced at the blow she delivered, thankful that Nabooru was an ally.

Navi whispered in his ear. "That's it, isn't it? We've found the last Sage."

A dozen replies spun through his mind. It seemed like months since he had set out from the Temple of Time on the quest Rauru, Sage of Light, had given him.

Now, it was almost over.


	40. Metamorphosis

Chapter 39: Metamorphosis

_If nothing lets to make us happy both  
__but this my masculine usurped attire,  
__do not embrace me till each circumstance  
__of place, time, fortune do cohere and jump  
__that I am Viola._

_Twelfth Night, 5.1.247-251_

* * *

_"Nabooru?" I blink and peer around the edges of the blue platform in the Chamber of Sages until I find her. "Why are you so quiet?"_

_ She seems unable to look me in the eyes. "I must explain something to you that I should have explained before."_

_ "What is it?"_

_ "No doubt, you've noticed there are few men among the Gerudos."_

_ "I'd say that was one of the first things I noticed about your people."_

_ "Did you also know that only one man is born to us every hundred years?"_

_ I clutch my forehead, trying to get my mind around that idea. "Are you saying that Ganondorf is the only male Gerudo alive?"_

_ "Yes. When the male is born, he automatically becomes King, and the highest-ranking woman in our tribe becomes his wife." She trembles. "My mother refused."_

_ Navi gently raises her voice. "What happened to her?"_

_ "When I was seventeen—the year a woman is old enough to take leadership among the Gerudos—my mother was executed, and I became Ganondorf's second-in-command."_

_ My stomach turns over at this. "He let it happen?"_

_ "What he felt towards my mother was as twisted as it was sincere. When he was young, he cared for her, but when he found out she had married a Hylian in secret and that she had a daughter, he ordered her arrest and swore that she would die for violating his rights as King."_

_ "But if you're still alive," Navi says, "that must mean you…"_

_ The anger on Nabooru's cheeks shows up against the darker pigments in her skin. "I would never have agreed where my mother refused! After her death, Ganondorf altered the laws so that I could remain in my position without being forced to marry him. Of course, had I truly followed in my mother's footsteps by marrying a Hylian, he might have killed me as well."_

_ I fold my arms as the clues fall into place. "Is that why he hates Hylians so much?"_

_ "Because of my mother? No. He hated the Hylians and their city long before that. He had many reasons for hating them. Some of them were understandable."_

_ I want to ask her what could be understandable about hate, but suddenly I'm reminded that my own heart has been filled with hate: hate for the man who destroyed Hyrule. "Why did he hate them?"_

_ "He hated them because the same winds that blessed Hyrule Castle Town with life burned our land and killed our people. He felt the gods had favored the Hylians by giving them the best of the territories, and it made him furious."_

_ "Why didn't the people just move?"_

_ "Some did. Most were too poor to leave, so Ganon agreed to build them villages in return for labor and obedience to Gerudo laws. But he always coveted the gods' favor and the more comfortable existence of his enemies." She paused, closing her eyes at a painful memory. "When he began to obsess over rumors and myths about a power that could grant his heart's desire, I knew he would drown Hyrule in blood to find it if it existed."_

_ I whisper that power's name. "The Triforce…"_

_ "That's not the only reason, is it?" Navi speaks thoughts that are on my mind, too. "Didn't the King of Hyrule try to kill him?"_

_ The line of Nabooru's jaw hardens. "Yes. The two of them wanted the same thing, because each was afraid of the other. Both were tyrants, but the Hylians were the first to shed blood. Many women who served my mother were killed in the King's attempt on Ganon's life."_

_ "I'm sorry."_

_ She shrugs. "Are you guilty of a thing that happened before you were born?"_

_ "Maybe not, but I'm part of those events whether I want to be or not."_

_ "As am I." She smirks, finding humor in the midst of horror. "I've always been part of it, and now I'm one of your 'Sages.' Just as well. Now I know I'll see the end of it one way or the other."_

_ She spreads her arms apart until a ringing pierces the quietness of the chamber. A sand-colored Medallion plummets through the air until it lands in my outstretched palms._

_ Without warning, several spheres of light appear over our heads. There are five: one yellow, one green, one red, one blue, one violet. They hover over the pedestals that bear their respective colors around the edges of the platform. All at once, the spheres are replaced by the figures of the other five Sages._

_ Rauru, Sage of Light, is the first to speak. "The child of destiny has grown stronger. It appears he may soon be ready for the final test."_

_ Standing at the center of the platform, I turn slowly, exchanging glances with each of the Six in turn. Physically, we're separated by only a few feet. I wish I had time for one more word with all of them, but the moment is too urgent for that._

_ "The time for the final showdown with the King of Evil has come!" Rauru's voice thunders from the depths. "Even now, the floodgates have loosed, and a final Darkness spreads across the fields of Hyrule. None can stop it alone—but we Six, with the Hero of Time, shall marshal what Light remains. After that, the Ancient Creators of Hyrule must decide its fate."_

_ I bow on my knees to this man who protected me when I lost the years of my youth for Hyrule. Rauru steps off his Pedestal of Light and glides close enough to take the Master Sword from the sheath hanging at my side. Holding it in both hands, he raises it toward the roof of the Chamber and continues in a loud voice._

_ "May this blade forged by the First Sages fulfill its destiny in the hands of Link, Hero of Time. May the Power of Din, the Wisdom of Nayru, and the Courage of Farore be united in his heart. May these Three in One Heart banish the Incarnation of Evil forever!"_

* * *

In the east of Hyrule, the fields surrounding Kokiri Forest echoed with the hacking of axes, the pounding of hammers, and the shouting of orders. Around a dozen men worked at the edges of the forest, assembling the branches and the trunks of trees into arrows and a battering ram. Every few minutes, other figures would leave the shadows of the forest, drop a pile of fresh branches on the ground, and reenter the woods.

In the west, the clouds had begun to gather over Gerudo Desert. At first, the men in the east assembling their tools of war paid little heed to this, assuming the clouds merely signaled a rainstorm that might, at worst, force them into the woods for a few hours while they continued making arrows and other smaller implements that required less room to assemble.

But after awhile, when some of them had paused for a rest, they took notice. Some clouds had moved ahead of the others. This would not have seemed unusual, except that the clouds in front were long and thin and spaced apart at equal intervals, five in all. Like fingers.

No one spoke, because there was nothing to be said. No matter the reason for those clouds, the Knights of Hyrule were there for a purpose, and that purpose would be carried out.

Soon after that, the men saw something that interested them far more than the weather over Gerudo Desert: a lone horse and rider, speeding across Hyrule Field from the west.

"The Hero of Time," some whispered amongst themselves, and indeed their words proved accurate when the rider dismounted at the outskirts of the camp.

Link eyed the preparations going on around him with a smile at first, but the smile soon faded when he realized how few were the men assembling the weapons they would use against Ganon and his army.

He placed his hand on the shoulder of one of the Knights constructing the battering ram. "Arswaine?" The man nodded towards the forest.

"I pray," said a voice from the trees, "that when you did not see as many of us as you expected, you did not assume the worst and lose your faith in the Knights of Hyrule."

Link shook his head. "I knew you would rather have died than fail."

Sabooro the carpenter grunted. "If we make it out of this, I'm eating nothing but steak and Lon Lon Milk for six weeks."

One of the Knights who had accompanied Arswaine chuckled. "Meet Spiro, Jiro, Ichiro, and their fool of a brother, Sabooro."

"That's the thanks we get for helping," Spiro said, carving the shaft of an arrow.

"Enough." Arswaine held up a hand for silence. "We may not be two thousand strong, but we are more than enough to challenge Ganondorf's iron grip."

Some cynical part of Link's mind had been wondering how twenty Knights and four carpenters could win against an army, even with the Master Sword at their head. But before he could reproach himself for the thought, he began to notice the other shadows in the forest.

A yell from somewhere near the battering ram startled him just as he was beginning to guess what those shadows might portend. He swung around, eyes widening as a Gerudo came at him with her scimitars slicing the air. Where had she come from? How had she snuck past the Knights?

He blocked her first blow with his sword and countered several more before realizing he was being toyed with. Instead of rushing to his aid, the entire company of Knights had remained in place, watching the exchange. Was this a way of proving he was everything he said he was?

Suddenly, the woman stopped and bowed with her scimitars crossed in front of her chest. "It was said you were an excellent swordsman. I see now the truth is greater than the rumors. I am A'idah, leader of this company."

"Company?"Link turned back to face Kokiri Forest and found that the shadows had become the flesh-and-blood figures of at least fifty Gerudo women. He took a step backward.

"I trust all these are friends of Hyrule," Arswaine said. "Had they intended to betray us, they would have done so without any need to aid our escape from Gerudo Valley."

"How—"

"I will explain further in private if you wish," Arswaine said, motioning for the others to continue their work, "then you must eat and rest. We will all need our strength before long."

* * *

A hand shook him awake in the darkness. While the others were cutting trees and shaping weapons at the edge of the forest, he had taken Arswaine's advice and settled into a fitful rest near his old house in the Kokiri village, deep in the woods.

"Who?" He blinked and tried to spy out his surroundings in the dim light.

"I have been waiting for you, Link."

"Sheik?" Link remembered the boy's promise: that when they met again, it would be for the last time. "Have you come to say goodbye?"

The boy's expression was unreadable. "In a manner of speaking."

"What's that supposed to mean?" said Navi.

Sheik continued. "You have overcome many hardships and awakened Six Sages—and now you have a final challenge, a showdown with Ganondorf, the King of Evil." He paused, his tone of voice softening. "Before that, I have things I want to tell only to you. Please listen."

Link sat up with his back against a tree. "I'm listening."

"You should know that the Triforce is a balance that weighs the three great virtues: Power, Wisdom, and Courage. If the heart of the person who finds the Triforce has all three of these in balance, that person will gain their heart's desire. But if their heart is not in balance, the Triforce will separate into three distinct parts. Only one will remain for the person who touched the Triforce, the part representing whichever of the three virtues that person most believes in."

Link thought for a moment before replying. "What happens to the rest of the Triforce?"

"The two lost shards are held within others chosen by destiny." Sheik's voice had become a whisper. "Seven years ago, Ganondorf used the door you opened in the Temple of Time to enter the Sacred Realm. But when he laid his hands on the Triforce, the legend came true. The Triforce separated, and only the Triforce of Power remained in Ganondorf's hand."

"I'll bet he was mad when he didn't get the other two pieces," Navi said.

Sheik nodded. "To gain complete mastery of the world, Ganondorf needed the Triforce of Courage and the Triforce of Wisdom. He never found them."

The nervous feeling Link had experienced the last time he saw Sheik returned. "Go on."

"Link, _you _were the one chosen to keep the Triforce of Courage."

Link tried to swallow the lump in his throat, unsuccessfully. "And the other?"

"The other chosen one is the Seventh Sage, destined to become the leader of them all."

With a flourish, the last male Sheikah held up the back of his right hand, where a mark—small, but unmistakably the image of the Triforce—glowed in the skin. Link stared, but the sight didn't last long, for a terrible white light had filled the woods, and he was blinded to all else save the vision of Sheik's bare head as he removed his turban.

He gaped as the _boy_ shook loose his blond hair and the strands fell down the back of his skull, rolling out to their full length like a waterfall of gold. The white light faded slowly, but at last there was a moment when Link could see the full transformation—clothing, figure, and all—from head to toe.

"It is I, the Princess of Hyrule, Zelda."

* * *

**The original version of the scene you just read, as it unfolds in the game, is probably my favorite scene in the entire Zelda canon. That flash of white light and the panning of the camera to reveal Zelda standing in front of you in the temple...it might just be my favorite memory from _any_ game I've played. I tried to do it justice, and of course there's more of that scene to come in the next chapter as Link reacts to the unexpected reappearance of such a significant person in his life. But it's so hard to transform those feelings into words.**

**Hey, listen! The final battle for Hyrule will begin with the next batch of chapters. Make sure your Life Meter is filled to the max...**


	41. Marshalling the Light

Chapter 40: Marshalling the Light

Link turned away from the person he had known as Sheik, who was now calling himself—or herself—Zelda. His face had reddened, and the corners of his eyes bled salty tears. "No," he said, more harshly than he had intended. "It's too painful."

Looking down at him, Zelda hesitated, taken aback by the feeling she had heard in his voice. "What do you mean?"

"How do I know this isn't a dream? I've had dreams like this ever since the day I met you in the castle courtyard. Every time I had one, I got my hopes up, thinking I had found you again—and every time, I woke to find out it was a lie. I can't go through that again."

"My disguise as a young man was necessary to hide from Ganon. Without it, I would have been one of the first he suspected of carrying one of the lost shards." Zelda tried to keep her head erect, but something in her eyes and the quiver of her lips betrayed her inner struggle. "Please forgive me."

Link swallowed hard. "There were so many times when I thought you might have been killed. Ganondorf tried to make me believe that himself, but you've been watching me since the moment I left the Sacred Realm, haven't you? You were there, even when I didn't see you."

Zelda squared her shoulders and stepped forward, the hem of her dress trailing behind her in the grass. She stopped in front of the tree where Link was still sitting and knelt with her hands in her lap. Quietly, she continued.

"On that day, seven years ago, Ganondorf attacked Hyrule Castle. I saw you as we were escaping, and I thought it would be best to entrust you with the Ocarina of Time. As long as you had it in your possession, I thought he would never be able to enter the Sacred Realm. But then, something I never could have expected happened."

Biting his lip, Link looked her full in the face for the first time. "What was it?"

"After you opened the Door of Time, the Master Sword sealed you in the Sacred Realm, allowing Ganondorf to obtain the Triforce in spite of all our efforts."

Link moved his mouth several times as if he would speak, but even the Triforce of Courage seemed to fail him when it came to exposing his heart.

Zelda took one of his hands in each of hers. "The dark age ruled by Ganondorf will end. The Six will lure him back into the Sacred Realm, and then I will close the way between Hyrule and that Realm forever. To do this, I need your courage one last time. Please protect me while I do my part."

Link squeezed her hands as he peered beyond the trees and beyond the clouds to a place out of sight. "I would suffer anything for you, as long as_ they_ gave me the courage."

She lowered her eyes. "There is one more gift I have to give you. It is a power given to the chosen ones, a weapon that can penetrate Evil's defenses."

Link stared at the globe hovering over their outstretched hands. It was a sphere of bright crystal—but what held his attention was the arrow that had pierced the side of the crystal so that its head was embedded in the exact center.

"It is the sacred Arrow of Light." Zelda's voice had begun to pick up volume again. "A time may come when the Hero needs more than his blade. When that happens..."

"Not to seem rude," Navi said, finally interrupting, "but he has enough to carry already."

"Show me one of your arrows."

Link took one of his four remaining arrows and held it out to her. Touching it to the crystal, Zelda stepped back, and they could all see that the same golden light afire in the crystal now burned from the head of Link's arrow like one candle lit by another.

"Before the battle for Hyrule begins, you will need all of the songs I taught you with my harp." She smiled at the look on his face. "It will not be as hard to remember them as you think. The Ocarina of Time gives a strange power of memory to anyone who holds it."

Link returned the glowing arrow to his quiver. "That's a relief."

He glanced away from her, trembling. Suddenly, as if a sluice had been released, he leaned forward on his knees and brushed the side of her face with his left hand. She blinked, startled.

He smiled. "I've waited a long time to do that…and this."

Mustering his courage, he clasped her by the back of the neck as lightly as he could and pulled her forward.

Several things happened at once, all in the space of a few seconds. Navi spun away from them, screeching in her most obnoxious tone, "Oh, come on!" A tremor as if of thunder rumbled through the woods, and the ground shook.

Had they been given another moment, their lips would have met. But their eyes were closed, and neither could see the barrier that had risen between them. With a sudden intake of breath, both opened their eyes to find that a wall of crystal had separated them, enclosing Zelda's body completely.

"No!" Link pounded his fists against the crystal, but it was harder than the rock of Death Mountain. Slashing at it with his sword was out of the question; he dared not risk harm to Zelda, even if there was a chance of breaking it.

A voice out of their darkest memories howled through the woods. "Foolish of you to avoid my pursuit for seven long years, only to let your guard down on the eve of battle. But I knew you would appear if I let this boy wander around. My only mistake was to underestimate his power." Ganondorf, unseen, paused as if in thought. "No, my mistake was to misjudge the Triforce of Courage!"

Link closed his eyes again, breathing slowly. "Ganondorf. I'm yours to do with as you please. Leave her unharmed."

No answer came except the hysterical barking laughter he had heard the day he opened the gate to the Sacred Realm.

"Link…" Navi landed gently on his left shoulder. "The crystal. Zelda. She's gone."

* * *

The rain had begun in earnest, and in the distance, behind the hill that guarded Hyrule Castle Town from view, came the first of the horns. It was not a beautiful sound, like the horns of old Hyrule before the siege of Ganondorf. There was evil in that sound, and the force of each heaven-hurled drop of water only strengthened its power.

Worse still, the Hero of Time had failed to return.

"I will seek him out, before our heart is lost," Daphnes said.

Arswaine shook his head. "If he returns of his own will, it would be better for all of us." He eyed the muddied ground beneath the battering ram and stamped the butt end of his spear in the soil. "But for the sake of the men and our Gerudo allies, go."

Daphnes turned to reenter the forest, but a stir had risen among the Gerudos and the Knights sitting nearest the trees. "Sir."

Arswaine followed his second's line of sight. Out of the woods strode Link, sword in hand, staring straight ahead. The line of his jaw was clenched, and there was a gleam in his eyes more terrible than the lightning rending the heavens.

He disregarded all their looks until he stood on the far side of the battering ram, facing the hill and the city beyond. With his left hand, he raised the hilt of the Master Sword to the sky, held it there for a moment, then thrust the blade into the ground.

There was quiet for nearly three minutes as they waited for him to speak. Finally, he began to address them in a voice that carried to the edge of the woods.

"We all lose things that are dear to us. Some lose homes, some their wives or children, others the dignity of their culture. This is one thing that unites us. But why have we lost these things?" He raised both arms as if to welcome the storm. "Do we curse those who created this world, as Ganondorf does? Or do we allow the gods to mold us through our pain?"

Another horn sounded from the other side of the hill, threatening to drown him out, but the Hero of Time only raised his voice the louder. "The courage Din looks for is gotten _through_ pain, not the absence of it. All of you have found this courage in the last seven years, and that is what will end the dark age of Ganondorf!"

Tearing his sword from the ground, he whirled to face them. As his voice rose to a fever pitch, he pointed the blade upwards. "May the Way of the Hero lead to the Triforce!"

A cheer burst from the Knights of Hyrule, and a moment later, the Gerudos followed, their voices blending in with the Knights'. Scimitars clattered against shields all across the plain.

Link reached for one of the Medallions he had obtained from the Sages and flourished it. "We are not alone," he cried. "Six from the Sacred Realm offer us their aid!"

* * *

_Elsewhere, even as the Hero of Time speaks, the Six are watching. Their eyes are fixed on Hyrule, tracking every move of the strange assembly at the edges of the forest. They have observed the Darkness from the moment it left Hyrule Castle Town; thus, they have a far better idea of what lies ahead than the others._

_ "He is not the child he was," Impa says. "His trials have made him stronger."_

_ Saria nods her assent. "I should know that as well as anyone."_

_ The others remain silent as the Hero plays the Minuet of Forest, one of the five songs he has learned from Zelda, the Seventh Sage. When he is finished, he places a small green disc, the Medallion of Forest, on a pedestal facing the Forest Temple._

_ "Go now," Rauru says, his eyes locked on Saria. "Bid the Kokiri to their destiny."_

_ Four more times, this scene is repeated. The Hero plays each melody in turn, places the Medallions, and calls the Sages back to Hyrule one last time, until only Rauru, Sage of Light, is left in the Chamber of Sages._

_ Rauru sighs. Even the oldest of the Six cannot tell how this battle will play out. Time, human frailty, and the mysterious acts of Din and her sisters will all play their part._

_ "Power and Courage," he whispers. "Who will be the victor?"_

* * *

Link returned to Kokiri Forest despondent, certain his attempt to recall the Sages had failed. Nothing had happened when he placed the Medallions near the temples, so he concluded the Sages were unable to hear him. Ganondorf had been able to keep five of them unaware of their identity, after all; what prevented him from blocking their efforts to help him now?

It was in this state of mind, as he neared the edges of the forest, that Link heard a voice from the woods surrounding him. "Hey, Scrub legs!"

That stopped him in mid-stride. _Mido?_

Sure enough, the freckled face of his old nemesis emerged from the trees on his left, followed by many more of the Kokiri, all of them carrying some form of weapon: slingshot, pebble, Deku Nut, branch, wooden spear, or shield.

Link struggled to hold back a smile. "What is this?"

Mido shook his head. "You think we'd just sit around when there's fighting going on right outside the forest?"

Navi chirped. "How do you know about the battle?"

Mido grinned. "Saria was here just now. She told us everything."

Link peered into the woods. "Where is she now?"

"She said she had to help the Hero of Time, whatever that means."

_Help? I'm not sure I know what that means, either._ Link shrugged. "These aren't Deku Scrubs we're talking about, Mido. The Kokiri may be killed if they fight."

Mido sighed and gave Link one of his trademark frowns. "You know, Skulltula-for-brains, Saria used to say that we're never too small to make a difference. I thought you believed that when we killed the monster inside the Great Deku Tree. Did you change your mind?"

Before Link had a chance to apologize, a little blond-haired Kokiri girl stepped forward, her tiny hands holding out a bolt of folded green fabric.

"We made you a new tunic," she said. "Just like your old one."

Link glanced down at the blue Zora Tunic he had worn since he entered the Water Temple. Rips and tears. A few scorch marks. One bloody spot where his own shadow had stabbed him.

"Face it, Stink," Mido said. "You're a Kokiri whether you want to be one or not."

The girl pressed the tunic into Link's arms and stood on tiptoe to kiss his left cheek. "We believe in you, Link, even if you've stopped believing in us."

Link raised the tunic to eye level and stared at it for what seemed an interminable period. It was still raining, yes, but the moisture running down his face wasn't from the clouds.

* * *

Ganondorf's army had paused at the top of the hill running down into the forest. From Epona's saddle, Link—once more wearing Kokiri colors—watched as one of the creatures in the vanguard detached itself from the rest and strode forward, carrying a spear. Half-dog, half-giant, and knotted with thick muscles, it grunted as it walked.

"The Great Ganondorf demands your surrender," it called when it had stopped within speaking range. "All Gerudos who fight for their master will be pardoned. Any Knight who aids us in capturing this boy will be given his life."

A'idah, the head of the Gerudo flank, faced the creature with grim aspect. "Yes. We know how well the 'Great Ganondorf' keeps his word, especially to those who disobey his law."

The dog-giant growled. "Do you accept his offer?"

Drawing both swords, A'idah screamed, "May Ganondorf perish in the Dark Realm!"

The dog-giant's arm whipped forward, enhanced by its master's Triforce of Power. The spear, too quick to avoid, pierced A'idah through the chest.

Link flinched, and he heard several gasps behind him. The dog-giant opened its mouth and roared. Suddenly, they heard a long series of snaps, followed by a loud hiss. Link scanned the sky for a sign, but it was Navi who shouted the warning.

Those who heard the fairy threw up their shields. Those who didn't or were slow to respond fell to the rain of arrows. Link stared as one of the shafts tore into the soil at his feet. Painted black like Ganondorf's horse and armor, they were almost impossible to see in the storm.

He shuddered, glancing at the screen of leaves and branches that covered the battering ram a dozen meters to his right, behind the frontline. "Mido?"

A yell came in reply. "Ready!"

Link nodded. _This is it, then._ Fear and adrenaline flooded his body, but most of it hardened into resolve when he saw Zelda's face before his eyes. His own words came back to haunt him. _I would suffer anything for you, as long as they gave me the courage…_

"Sir?"

Turning to Arswaine, Link raised the Master Sword. "Fix arrows!"

Arswaine carried the order up and down the line until seventy-six bowshots—the exact number of their army, minus Link, Navi, and the Kokiri—had been trained on the Darkness.

Link sheathed his sword and took up the Fairy Bow he had discovered in the Forest Temple. He took the Arrow of Light Zelda had given him, applied it to the string, and pulled back as far as the string would go.

No other signal was necessary. The Arrow of Light could be seen across Hyrule Field, burning the clouds wherever it passed and letting the sunlight through from Epona's saddle to the place where it finally landed: in the mouth of the dog-giant that had killed A'idah. Seventy-six other arrows followed, eating into the frontlines of Ganon's army.

Replacing the bow and taking up his sword once again, Link pointed it at the dog-giant. "Your reward from Din!" The Knights and Gerudos responded in a chorus of war cries.

But the first rank of Ganondorf's army was already on its way down the hill, closing the gap. There would be no second volley.

"The Way of the Hero!" Link spurred Epona to a gallop. Fourteen Gerudos and thirteen Knights of Hyrule charged with him, and the shape the twenty-eight riders formed as they hurtled into the Darkness resembled a triangle with Link as the point, a gesture that would not be lost on Ganondorf.

After that, all was chaos.


	42. Battle for Hyrule

Chapter 41: Battle for Hyrule

_Screams of men and cries of triumph breaking in one breath,  
__fighters killing, fighters killed, and the ground streamed blood._

~_Iliad, _Book IV

* * *

"Look!"

"Where?"

"Up _there!"_

Link scowled. "Now's not the time for it, Navi!"

"But I think it's the Sages!"

Even in the midst of the charge, even as the distance between the armies shrank rapidly, Link spared a moment's glance away from the battlefield—and saw a strange sight that lifted his spirits. One by one, five spheres of light passed over Hyrule Field, five spheres identical in color and shape to those he had seen in the Chamber of Sages.

_They're trying to tell us something, _he thought. _But what?_

In the breath before the initial shock of battle, the Kokiri rose up from beside the battering ram and launched a fusillade of pebbles, Deku Nuts, and sharp wooden stakes at the enemy. Though little more than a distraction, Link knew that every advantage they could gain, however slight, might prove crucial in the course of battle.

Behind him, the other riders swept into the frontline of Ganon's army with gale force. All around him, formations disappeared and order dissolved in confusion as iron and men and monsters collided, filling the air with screams and blood that ran with rain in the soil.

Link remained in the saddle long enough to cleave a Lizalfos, but a second Lizalfos coming up behind it speared his saddle horn so that he flew face-first into a dark red puddle on the ground. As he struggled to his feet, with mud and water clinging to his tunic, he felt a spear point pierce through his left boot, narrowly missing the foot. With his first swing, he severed the spear in half, and with the next, he severed the head of the Lizalfos that had unhorsed him.

"This is horrible!" Navi wailed.

"If I needed you to tell me that, I'd ask!" Link ducked a blow from a Stalfos and returned it with one that shattered the skeleton's ribcage.

At that moment, those who had charged on foot reached the fight, and the fury of battle increased. It was only then Link realized that the greater part of Ganondorf's army had remained on the other side of the hill.

Navi's voice shouted him back to his senses. "Look out!"

A dog-giant of the same species as the one he had killed with his Light Arrow had swung a club at his neck; a last-minute twist of his body diverted it into another monster's face. With a yell, he snatched up the spear left by the dead Lizalfos and rammed it through his foe's neck.

After that, he cast aside all thoughts of what might happen to their plan through the next few minutes and thought only of avoiding death at the end of a spear. Soon, the feeling of being suffocated peaked when he began seeing the bodies of Gerudos and several Knights of Hyrule in the mud, bloodied and trampled, some with the weapon that had killed them still in their flesh.

The tempo of his sword quickened. _Ganondorf!_

From the corner of his eye, he saw Navi speeding towards him from the hill, calling loud enough to be heard by most of the survivors of their band. "They're here, they're here!"

A flicker of something like hope leapt in Link's chest. "What is it?"

In her excitement, all Navi could do was continue exclaiming, "They're here!"

All at once, the part of Ganon's army visible at the top of the hill turned its back on the skirmish beneath them to return the way they'd come. Seeing this, the other monsters who had been slaughtering Link's allies hesitated.

Link stumbled over a Lizalfos cut in half and proceeded to hack a path for himself up the hill. Another miraculous sight greeted him at the top. All across Hyrule Field, monsters grouped themselves to face not one, but two new foes.

From the northeast, rank on rank of Gorons marched into the fray, flinging boulders and fist-sized rocks at Ganon's army. Those who had already spent the projectiles rolled themselves in a ball and smashed their bodies through dozens of foes.

From the west, an army of Zoras had penetrated even deeper into the Darkness.

Link grinned through the rain and the filth that caked his face. Saria had summoned the Kokiri, so why shouldn't the other Sages call their people to battle?

The sound of Mido's voice broke his concentration. "A little help here!"

Link spun around to face the battering ram. Most of the monsters had fled or followed the Knights and Gerudos up the hill, but a small group had turned their malice on the Kokiri. He saw a Stalfos with a sharpened stick protruding from its left eye socket and a Lizalfos stumbling from the flash of a Deku Nut. Six Kokiri and their fairies had managed to pull one of the dog-giants to the ground; all twelve pounded the creature with sticks, shot at its eyes with pebbles, or battered it with their fists.

Yet in spite of the forest folks' valiant defense, the brute strength of the monsters had begun to overwhelm them. Link and a small detachment of Knights rushed forward, evening the odds for the Kokiri. Soon, the last Lizalfos fell with a stake in its stomach and the Master Sword in its back.

"Thanks." Mido shook hands with Link. "Guess you didn't forget us after all."

"What is it, Link?" The girl who had given him the tunic looked up with bright eyes. "What's happening?"

"Our friends are holding off Ganon's army for us." Link ran a hand along the battering ram. "It's time we did what we came here to do."

One of the Knights glanced up the hill anxiously. "Sir?"

Link nodded. "The rest of you, fight wherever your swords are needed."

Arswaine laid a hand on his shoulder. "We fight beside the Hero of Time."

"Thank you." Link sheathed his sword, turning to help his friends lift up the battering ram. The Kokiri stood in pairs abreast all along its length, grunting and heaving. Link wrapped his arms around the foremost part of the tree and stared into the distance as the Knights formed a perimeter.

Mido bit his lip. "You sure he wouldn't have minded us using one of his branches?"

Link smiled. "The Great Deku Tree would be proud if he knew we had used his body to break our way into Ganondorf's castle…"

* * *

At first, most of Ganondorf's army fled from the battering ram on sight. A general cheer went up from the Gorons and Zoras, and some of them had grouped around the Knights, swelling the Kokiris' escort.

Epona cantered at Link's side, trampling any foe that made it past the outer defense. Wherever she saw a monster, she galloped out to meet it, rose up on her hind legs, and smashed its face with her hooves or distracted it long enough for a Knight to finish it off. In this way, they made it to within a hundred yards of the city.

That was when the lightning struck the center of the battering ram, setting it on fire and causing most of the Kokiri to stumble, losing their grip on the branch. The rest cried out in pain and distress, unable to bear the increased weight.

The rain began to drum against them all the harder, and as Link recovered from the flash, an afterimage swam across the field of his vision, resembling the face of Ganondorf. A laugh, or the hint of a laugh, filled his mind above the noise of battle.

After that, the fear the monsters had shown at the sight of the Tree vanished. Ignoring every other target, monsters hurled themselves on the Tree's defenders, particularly the Knights of Hyrule. Soon, the Kokiri were forced to halt their march altogether, lowering the Tree to the ground until a path could be cleared.

Link, his arms raw from the strain of fighting, waded in with Epona, the two of them racking up a sizable body count with teeth, hooves, and sword. Link killed two Lizalfos with a lateral stroke that opened their stomachs. Epona smashed another onto the point of the Master Sword, and the creature screamed, its jaws snapping shut inches from Link's face as it died.

A gang of fairies, headed by Navi, smothered a trio of Stalfos with their bodies, blinding them long enough for a pair of Gorons to smash the skeletons with fists and shoulders. A few of the braver Kokiri picked up the bones dropped by the Stalfos and threw them at other foes.

Link found himself fighting beside Arswaine. "I don't think this is going to end!"

The Knight yelled as he beheaded his opponent. "You believe Ganon can renew this army?"

"Yes!" Link flinched as a razor-edged boomerang scissored through the arm of a dog-giant close by, turning the creature's attention to the Zora that had snuck up behind it. The Zora calmly dodged the giant's spear and flipped a bladed fin into its face, only to fall to another spear thrown by one of the giant's companions, a Lizalfos.

Gradually, the defenders were herded away from the battering ram. The Knights held on longest, but at last, even they were forced to give way, opening a hole for several Lizalfos to dart through. Their tongues lolling out as they ran, the creatures hissed and leapt onto the ram at both ends, away from the fire. They stabbed the Tree again and again with their spears, sending chips of bark flying at a horrified crowd of Kokiri.

_Okay, Sages,_ Link thought. _Now would be the time for you to show up if you're still here._

Suddenly, as the rain was beginning to put it out, the fire in the middle of the battering ram flared explosively, engulfing the Lizalfos but leaving the bark and the Kokiri unscathed in its fury. A red sphere of light sailed over the Tree on its way to Hyrule Castle Town.

Just as he would have sworn he heard Ganondorf laugh when the lightning bolt had struck the Tree, so Link was certain he heard the Sage of Fire laugh as he flew past. _Thank you, Brother._

Emboldened by their enemies' panic, the Knights and most of the surviving Gerudos, Gorons, and Zoras gathered around the battering ram once more. This time, many hands from each of the different races lifted the ram and aimed it at the drawbridge.

Soon, the hundred-yard gap had become ninety yards. Then eighty. Sixty-five. Fifty.

Just as the horde was beginning to choke the area surrounding the drawbridge, the water in the moat shot out of its trench, spewing into the eyes, ears, and noses of any monster within range. The rain began turning to ice when it came in contact with Ganon's creatures. Link, the Knights, and their allies remained unharmed.

The drawbridge had been raised, of course, and Link saw that Ganon had reinforced it with more iron bars. None of this mattered when the Tree, pushed over the moat at considerable speed, collided with that barrier. At once, as if moved by a power greater than itself, the branch shattered the bridge, plunging it in several pieces into the empty moat.

The press of bodies scrambling into Hyrule Castle Town was so thick that Link knew he wouldn't make it without desperate measures. Scrambling onto Epona, he rode her straight over the battering ram and into the city, its deserted streets now crowded with combatants.

Navi joined him as he barged his way to the street leading east out of the square. "Where are you going? This isn't the way to the castle!"

"I've still got one more Medallion!" he called back.

* * *

A lifetime ago, he had stepped through these doors a boy. Seven years later, he had gone out as a man. Now, he had returned to the Temple of Time to call on the Sage who had protected him during those years of slumber.

The golden Medallion clinked as he placed it on the pedestal facing the Altar of Time. He waited.

A column of light burst through the center of the Medallion, widening until it covered the pedestal. Bright yellow, the light matched the robes of the person standing inside it.

"I wasn't sure you would come," Link said. "I never saw the others—at least, not in their physical bodies."

Rauru folded his arms into his sleeves. "You forget that the conflicts that most affect Hyrule are those that occur in the spiritual realm."

"So the others are fighting in the Sacred Realm?"

Rauru shook his head. "Conflicts between spirits may take place in any realm."

As if to emphasize the point, the muted sounds of battle from outside the temple became a vortex of animal screams and strangled cries of fear. This went on for several minutes, during which Link never moved or spoke. A chill dampened his spine.

When the din had settled, a terrifying stillness pervaded the air. Rauru glided to the door; Link followed him back to the city square without a word. There, the survivors of battle greeted him, but there were no cheers. The bodies lay everywhere.

"Link?" A familiar voice drew his attention to a crowd on his right, near the road leading to the castle.

"Saria?" Squinting, Link spied out the figures of the other five Sages—in bodily form this time—milling about the plaza.

"I'm sorry we couldn't come sooner," Saria said, taking his hand. "It was Ganondorf. He knew the longer he kept us away, the better chance he'd have of destroying you."

Navi chirped in alarm. "What happened?"

"He tried to make us forget who we are by filling the temples with monsters again. We had no choice but to fight them before we could help you here."

"Bah." Darunia pounded his chest with a massive fist. "I knew we would win all along!"

"So you fought?" Link frowned at Saria. "With what?"

Darunia snorted. "Weren't you paying attention, Brother? Our names say a lot about us. That fire that killed those Lizalfos on the battering ram? That was me."

"I knew _that_ was," Link said, keeping his eyes on Saria, "but what kind of power does _she_ have that could kill…"

His voice trailed off. A patch of ivy growing through a crack in the cobblestones had risen up in front of him; weaving like a tentacle, it wrapped itself around his wrist and squeezed with dreadful force—but only for a split second.

"As the Sage of Forest," Saria said, a smile barely hidden in her eyes, "I've been given the ability to use any kind of plant as a weapon against Ganondorf."

Navi hovered near Saria's shoulder. "But that noise a few minutes ago. Was that one of you, too?"

Ruto gestured with one of her fins. "Let _them_ tell you about it."

Nabooru and Impa stepped to the front of the crowd. "Ours are the gravest powers among the Six," Impa explained. "I took away the creatures' capacity to see light, and Nabooru haunted them with imaginary spirits that kindled their fears to such heights that they fled."

Link knelt, laying his forehead on the pommel of the Master Sword. "I don't know what to say. We would have lost this battle without you."

"But it isn't over," Saria said.

Rauru nodded. "There is one more task for the Six before we must return to the Sacred Realm."

* * *

It was still raining, and the clouds had continued to darken. To Link's eyes, Ganondorf's fortress had taken everything that was beautiful about Hyrule Castle—soaring spires, stones that gleamed in sunlight, and a landscape so green only the gods could have invented it—and twisted it all into something ugly. Black like all else connected with Ganon, the fortress sat on an island hovering over a pit of magma.

Link's face scrunched up with doubt. "How will I cross?"

Rauru paused at the edge. "The Six will combine their powers to bridge the chasm."

Navi spoke up. "Say. You're the Sage of Light, aren't you? If all the Sages have special powers, what are yours?"

Rauru bowed. "Shadow and Spirit may be powerful, but Light is often subtlest among the Six. The deeds of the Sage of Light are not always seen by men, and when they are revealed, it may be long after the evil has passed."

Without further explanation, Rauru raised his arms to the sky, bidding the rest of the Six to do the same.

A shower of lights trickled from the heavens in all the colors representing the Six Sages. They fell until they reached a place directly across from the front gates of the castle. There, they took the shape of a bridge, as solid as any other bridge but transparent and graced with rainbows of color.

"Only one bearing the Triforce of Courage may enter Ganondorf's castle," Rauru said.

A Goron and a Zora stepped forward. "We will guard the city until your return."

"Thank you." Link bowed to the Six and the others standing by, then faced the mouth of the fortress. With Navi beside him, he crossed the bridge on foot, feeling far less confident than he had made the others feel.

And then he was inside.

* * *

**Yeah. So. In case it wasn't obvious _before,_ it's probably obvious _now_ what kind of shipper I am. But I respect those who feel differently, and as I hope you'll agree, I've made every effort to pay homage to Link's relationship with _all_ of the ladies in his life.**

**Like I said before, I know Zelda has never really been about large-scale epic battles, but to me this story was really screaming for one. While the greatest responsibility may lie on Link, I felt it was important to show the people of Hyrule fighting for _themselves, _too. There is something deeply satisfying about seeing people band together to fight a seemingly hopeless battle against evil.**

**There are several other elements I could comment on here, but what means a great deal to me may not mean the same thing to someone else. I prefer to let the story speak for itself as much as possible.**

**Keep sending in the reviews. They mean a lot! Happy Thanksgiving next week, at least to my American readers ;-). To everyone else...may the way of the Hero lead to the Triforce!**


	43. The Three United

Chapter 42: The Three United

_A threefold cord is not quickly broken._

~Ecclesiastes 4:12

* * *

Though his eyes were closed, his hands drifted over the keys deliberately, producing a melody that resonated through the tower, down into the rest of the castle. Yes, it was true that his army had failed, but it didn't matter. The real object of his desire would be achieved before the day's end; part of that desire was imprisoned in this very room, and the other was coming to him of its own free will.

As his fingers continued their slow dance, he spoke to the figure unconscious in the crystal above him. "As a child, you were foolish enough to believe your plans could be hidden from me—yet I saw through your deceptions in the end. In a way, I had hoped that after seven years, your ability to challenge me might have improved. But in revealing yourself to that boy, you showed that you are still the girl who thought she could prevent me from entering the Sacred Realm."

The figure stirred but did not fully wake. A moan escaped her lips. "Link…"

"Your greatest mistake was to trust in the guidance of Din and her sisters. Look at where that has gotten you." His voice was deep but expressionless. "The goddesses, if they exist, care nothing for Hyrule. That was clear when your grandfather betrayed my people, and it was clear when I conquered Hyrule Castle Town. If they cared, why did they not interfere?"

Again, he heard her moan, but this time, her words were more direct. "Goddesses…have interfered. They…don't stop…pain. They…carry us through."

He did not contradict her in words, but the force of each finger on the keys of the organ increased until the sound of the music had nearly doubled in strength. He heard her sigh as if the effort of her own words had exhausted her; after that, no other sound came from the crystal while the two of them remained alone in the room.

They were not alone for long. As Ganon's mind reached out through the halls of the castle, he felt the presence of the Triforce of Courage, first as Link entered through the gate and later as he found his way to the tower.

Slowly, a smile spread its way across his face.

* * *

"Another staircase," Link said. "I don't suppose I could borrow your wings for a while?"

"It's not so bad," said Navi.

"How would you know?"

They had encountered little resistance since entering the castle, but the dead quiet, rather than calming Link's anxiety, had only served to foster it. He had been ready to fight all the way to Ganondorf if he had to. What he hadn't expected was a mind game.

It started with the music. One minute, there had been complete silence. Next, a melody seeping through the air like mist rising out of a swamp.

At first, he couldn't be sure where it was coming from. Above him? Beneath him? Both at once? Whatever the case, it seemed to follow them as they made their way through shadowed corridors and dank stone hollows, ever nearing the center of the fortress.

Some time later, they reached a large round chamber with catwalks and stairways that stretched for hundreds of meters in every direction. They could have taken any number of paths from there, but the only one that mattered was the one directly ahead of them.

It was a doorway in the shape of a mouth. Eyes of stone glared down, and the ever-present melody, majestic and horrible at once, became louder as if trickling out of the creature's throat.

In through the mouth, up flight after flight of stairs, Navi and Link had made their way here, to another staircase. These steps, lined with plush red carpet that muffled sound, curved around a central column that plunged beneath the foundations of the castle. On their right, the outer wall of the tower gleamed with stained glass windows.

"Link?" Navi paused. "Are you okay?"

He had one foot on the next step, and he was leaning forward with his face pinched and his eyes closed.

"It's him, isn't it?"

He shook his head, slowly. "It's like him, only…stronger. I think it's the Triforce of Power. There's something else there, too. It reminds me of…her."

"Princess Zelda?"

He nodded. "All three of them are growing."

"What do you mean?"

"The Triforce." He flinched at a sudden tingle in the back of his left hand. "They're coming together."

* * *

As soon as Ganon heard the door opening behind him, he lifted his hands from the keys. For a moment, he allowed his hands to dangle over the organ as if he would begin the melody all over again.

"They are combining into one again." Though he spoke in a whisper, he knew the boy would hear him. "The two Triforce parts that I couldn't capture seven years ago. I didn't expect they would be hidden within the two of you."

Link had paused just inside the door, glancing around for dangers. Like the rest of the castle, Ganon's hideaway seemed empty except for its massive stained glass windowpanes and the organ with its stately golden pipes. There was no wall per se, only the glass separating them from the elements and a long plunge into oblivion.

"They'll never be one if I can help it," he said.

"Fool." A low growl built in Ganon's throat. "They are already one. Each part may have its own function, but the three can never truly be separate. Each calls to the other, and they are inevitably drawn together. It has always been so."

"So." Link waved the Master Sword. "Here I am. Let her go."

With a flourish of his red cape, Ganon turned around to face them. He had been sitting on a stool in front of the organ; suddenly, he was hovering in the air, leering down at them.

"The Triforce of Courage is too much for you. Return it at once!"

It was just like their first encounter at the drawbridge seven years ago. Link stood beneath the man, feeling helpless as a tunnel of electric energy spewed down at him from the back of Ganon's hand. This time, instead of throwing him backward, the energy tugged at his body, pulling him—and the Triforce of Courage—forward. He tried to block the energy with his shield, to no avail.

"Link!" Navi's voice came from behind him. "He's forcing me back. I can't be with you this time. I'm sorry!"

Link snarled and threw up the back of his hand so that the Triforce of Courage and the Triforce of Power were aligned. "You won't throw me aside this time. I've come for you, and I've come for Zelda. _Let her go!"_

* * *

Her mind swam in a sea of dreams broken every so often by pain. She thought she heard voices, but were they voices from her past, or was she hearing them in the present? Ganondorf had been taunting her; that seemed real enough. What Link had said to her in the forest: that was real, too, if only a memory.

"_Let her go!"_

Her body ached, but she fought to regain consciousness. Slowly, she perceived what was happening beneath her, in the tower.

She saw the two of them facing each other, their hands interlocked across a stream of energy. She saw the fairy behind them. She saw the look on Link's face and even the sweat on his brow as he struggled against his inner and outer adversary.

_If I could break this…_ She slipped a hand up against the crystal, willing herself beside Link. When she felt the blackness closing in on her again, she leaned her neck back and prayed with her lips facing a sky far beyond Ganon's castle. _For the safety of Link. For the safety of Hyrule!_

The last thing she saw was two silhouettes closing in on each other with terrible speed, their blades crossing in the first blows of combat.

* * *

When Link and Ganon slammed together, the Triforce marks on the backs of their hands blazed, and that light bounced off the glass all around them. The Master Sword met the blade of the Evil King with a toll that echoed through the Sacred Realm. Even those observing the tower from the ground outside, though they could not possibly have heard the sound, glanced up at that moment.

For Link, there was only Ganon, cape and armor and sword bearing down on him with a look that was half-fury half-grin. He wanted to keep his eyes on Ganon's face, but the demands of combat forced him to keep his attention on Ganon's sword instead.

Their exchange began all brute strength and passion with little concern on either side for forms or skillful footwork. In the flesh, each had scarcely spent more than a few minutes in the other's presence; but seven years of budding hatred were consummated in those first few strikes, sword on sword.

One clash saw the two of them pushing against each other with their blades, faces almost touching. Ganon's fist swung down at the top of Link's skull, but Link dove back, allowing the blow to fall on his shield. Bone cracked on metal, and the force of it burned through Link's arm. Neither seemed concerned by the pain.

This went on for what felt an eternity to Navi, with both men making wild cuts and using fist or shield in an attempt to catch his opponent off-guard with a secondary attack. Gradually, both realized that only strategy could end the fight; thus, the longer it lasted, the more calculated their movements became.

Link soon found that Impa's training, critical as it had been, would only take him so far. _She must have known it all the time,_ he thought, sweat spinning from his forehead as he knocked away a thrust aimed at his midriff. _No one could have prepared me for this._

Suddenly, Ganon spun around, flinging his cape at Link's head with the tip of his sword. The heavy fabric obstructed his view, if only for a moment—the time it took to slice the cape in two with the Master Sword—but when Link could see again, Ganon had gone.

"Link, behind you!"

He heard the sound of the oncoming energy and knew there wasn't time to turn around, so he bent his elbow back to try and catch the brunt of it on his shield. It did hit the shield, but the blast threw him onto his stomach with his arms splayed behind his back. He tried to rise and felt Ganon's boot strike the elbow of his shield arm, breaking the bone.

"Imagine," Ganon said, his sword point resting over Link's jugular. "The same sword stained with your death to kill Princess Zelda. The life's blood of Courage and Wisdom mixed on the blade of Power."

Link spat and tried not to flinch at the pain in his broken arm. "The only reason…you've got that power…is because the gods let you have it for a while. I don't know why they did, and I may never know. But…it's over. Hyrule will be ruled by wisdom, not tyranny."

With a cry of rage, Ganon raised the sword and plunged it downward again, his attention completely on the ecstasy of the killing blow so that the barrier surrounding the room opened for a split second.

"Don't you touch him!" Navi tunneled into Ganon's left ear, throwing the blade off so that it pierced the floor instead of Link's heart. By the time Ganon had hurled her from the room again, Link was already on his feet, wielding the Master Sword with his good arm. The broken arm he hooked behind his right hip as he fought facing Ganon like a fencer.

Ganon, still able to wield with both hands, slashed down with a two-handed swing, driving Link back towards the pipe organ.

It had been hard enough when he had both his hands. Now, with one doing the work of attack and parry, counter and thrust, Link swooned, blinking droplets of blood from his eyes as a cut he'd sustained on his forehead ran down his face. By now, the Kokiri tunic was all mud and sweat and blood of monsters and men.

Ganon, as if sensing his triumph, increased the fury of each swing all the more without returning to the senseless passionate fighting they'd started with. Link's response time dwindled until he could scarcely block and parry at the speed they were going.

Finally, with a side-swing at Link's hands, Ganon sent the Master Sword clattering to the floor. He couldn't dive for it; Ganon's sword would cleave his body before he touched the blade again. He breathed out, expecting to die but refusing to give in.

Ganon followed up immediately with a diagonal cut that should have bled Link from his right shoulder to his stomach, but his own foul play proved to be his undoing.

Link dropped to his knees, picked up the pieces of Ganondorf's cape, and lobbed them at his face, tangling the blade amid the fabric. Before Ganon could correct his aim, he grabbed the Master Sword and whipped it around his head in a circle. With his eyes closed, he waited for his end.

That end never came. Instead, he heard a wet choking noise and saw blood on the floor and on Ganon's armor, spilling down from a gash in his neck wrought by Link's wild swing.

The one was hardly more stunned than the other. Link stared at his sword as if to ask, _That's it?_ Though Ganon didn't speak, the expression on his face was a combination of rage and humiliation. _Beaten by a boy,_ it seemed to say.

"Look," Navi said in a low voice. "The Triforce of Power…"

He looked. The Triforce on Ganondorf's hand faded one moment and brightened the next, like a heartbeat or a firefly.

Suddenly, the Evil King's hands were lifted up toward the ceiling, and a cry of defiance escaped his throat. The Triforce of Power was so bright then that it made his entire body appear to be glowing. The cry went on for a half-minute, then died out. His breath spent, Ganon fell to his knees with hands still reaching for the heavens. Finally, he collapsed on his face.

A crash and a tinkling sound greeted Link a moment later. He turned, and there was Zelda, lying unconscious by the organ with the pieces of her prison all around her. One would have thought she had been lying there for hours. There was blood on her dress, but the Triforce of Wisdom on her right hand still sparked with life.

"She's alive." His voice broke. "She's alive, Navi!"

Casting the Master Sword aside, he knelt and pressed the fingers of his left hand to her throat. No, his eyes hadn't deceived him. Her chest rose and fell with the steady rhythm of life.

"Ganondorf," she murmured, her eyes still closed. "Pitiful man."

Cradling the back of her head with his good arm, Link lifted her to a sitting position and waited for her to come to. When she did, and her eyes had found his, there was silence between them—but it was a silence louder than words.

"Go ahead," Navi said. "I won't let it bother me this time."

Link fixed his eyes on the blood staining Zelda's dress. "Did he—"

"No," Zelda said quickly. "He never harmed me except by his lies. The crystal cut me as I fell."

Link nodded, offering his hand. She took it with quiet thanks and stood beside him, gazing at the body of Ganondorf.

"This isn't how I thought it would feel at the end," he said. "I hated him for killing the Great Deku Tree, but I think I'm beginning to understand where his hate came from."

"Perhaps he only used the atrocity our ancestors committed as an excuse to seize power for himself," Zelda said. "He enslaved the Gerudo to _his_ law—not the law Din gave them. That is why so many have deserted him."

"I hate to interrupt," said Navi, "but when are we getting out of here? And didn't Rauru say the Sages were going to put Ganondorf in prison?"

"Yes, Navi." Zelda smiled at the fairy's agitation. "We _are_ getting out of here."

The tower shuddered violently even as she finished her sentence. At the same time, the three of them gasped.

Ganondorf's body had vanished.

Before they could understand it, a pane of glass shattered overhead, raining down sharp edges. Link sheathed his sword and covered them with his shield as much as he could, but the glass still cut them. Worse, the whole castle had begun to tremble as if at an earthquake.

"Hurry!" Zelda pulled them towards the door they had entered through, but they never reached it. With a groan, the tower collapsed, leaving them—along with the rest of the debris—to plummet while their friends and allies on the ground looked on in horror.

Broken elbow or no, Link wrapped both arms around Zelda as they fell to ward off stones and glass and other bits of the castle that scarred his own body. If only he could have guaranteed her a safe landing, he thought.

Even as he thought this, he felt the cool wind against his flesh and heard a sound like a clap—and he saw that they were drifting over the bridge created by the Sages, about to land at the far end of it. It was some time before the smoke cleared enough for them to take in the full extent of the castle's destruction.

It was gone, and not just one tower or courtyard. The entire structure of the fortress had collapsed, leaving a few sections of the outer wall and fragments from some of the towers.

"What happened?" said Navi.

Zelda folded her left arm around her stomach and held the other hand beneath her chin in thought. "With his last breath, he tried to crush us in the ruins of the fortress. Dying meant little, as long as he thought we were dying with him."

Link shook his head but said nothing. A company of Gerudos and the few Knights that had survived the battle earlier rushed forward to offer aid, but he motioned for them to stay close without setting foot on the bridge.

Zelda bowed to the Knights and their allies. "I thank all of you for your courage. I am grateful so many have survived."

Arswaine bowed even more deeply. "To find the gods have spared _you,_ Highness, is the greatest reward we could have asked for."

Link took Zelda's right hand with his left. "That was you that brought us down on the bridge, wasn't it? Impa did something like it in the Shadow Temple."

She nodded without explaining and turned to watch the smoke rising from the ruins of the fortress. He saw a tear gleaming in her eyes as she whispered, "It's over. It's finally over…"

"No," he said, but he was looking at her, not at the fortress, when he said it.

Navi stirred. "Something's not right."

"What is it?" His heart beating fast, Link stared at the ruins until he could see what had caught the fairy's attention. He heard some of the others murmuring behind them.

Stones and bricks trickled from one of the piles of rubble like at the beginnings of an avalanche. Inside the pile, something shifted.

Zelda's expression changed from pleasure to fear and finally to resolve. "There may be far more to the Triforce of Power than any of us realized."

With a strength that sent the rubble flying in all directions, Ganondorf burst into the air where all could see him holding up the back of his hand. They could hear his breathing, and they could see his eyes even at a distance, because they glowed with a sickly yellow light.

Link drew the Master Sword and took a step toward the ruins.

"Wait." Zelda touched his broken arm. "You shouldn't fight like that."

She closed her eyes, keeping hold of the limb while she whispered words that left him shivering and strangely relieved. After that, he no longer felt pain in that arm, though the break hadn't been healed entirely.

"There are two—" She lowered her voice. "Three of us now. This is _our_ fight; it would be too dangerous to involve any of the others."

He glanced at the Knights. "You think you can keep them back?"

She waved an arm toward the crowd standing at the edge of the bridge, and instantly something shimmered, like a wall, that hadn't been there before. Seeing it, some tried to step onto the bridge and were stopped short by a visible jolt.

One of the Gerudos shouted as Link and Zelda began crossing the bridge again. "Are we merely to watch while you decide your fate and ours on your own?"

Arswaine answered calmly. "You forget. Ours was a fight against enemies that are slain by mortal weapons. Theirs…is a fight amongst gods that we can have no part of."


	44. Seal of the Sages

Chapter 43: Seal of the Sages

_When the dark comes rising, six shall turn it back._

~Susan Cooper, _The Dark is Rising Sequence_

* * *

No sooner had Link and Zelda entered the ruins of the castle than the light emanating from the Triforce of Power on Ganon's hand turned blue-white and exploded through his whole body. His limbs and torso swelled and became deformed, arms and legs lengthening to absurd proportions. His form was no longer human; instead, he had a tail, tusks protruding from his cheeks, and a snout like a pig's in place of his nostrils. In size alone, he had outgrown his body many times before the change was complete. He stood before them a monster, a manifestation of the evil he had become.

"There's no way he's holding me back again," Navi said. "This time, we fight together!"

Link couldn't help but smile. "Thank you, Navi." He quickly turned to Zelda. "I only have one sword, but…"

With characteristic grace, she slipped the bow and quiver from his back and fitted an arrow to the string. "In case we don't get another chance," she said. Then, to his surprise, she kissed him.

He flushed but had no time to respond before they were both in motion. Navi shouted a warning, but they had already seen what was coming at them from the corners of their eyes. The monstrosity that was Ganon had produced a pair of swords almost as large as its body and stomped forward to attack.

They avoided the first swing by simply diving out of the way. The two blades passed over their heads as they lay on their backs. When they rolled to their feet, they saw that they had been separated by a good six meters.

All three Triforces were now aflame. From a distance, they heard the Knights and some of the Gerudos exclaiming at the close call. Though Navi tried to distract the monster by throwing herself at its face or nostrils, its attention was so focused on Link and Zelda that even her most violent exertions failed her.

"Link, the tail!" Zelda's voice carried over Pig-Ganon's screams as it crushed a piece of the central tower with its feet. She loosed an Arrow of Light at its face, hitting the nose. A fount of sparks erupted from the wound, and the tail fell stiffly to the ground.

Link leapt from a chunk of stone and stabbed downward into the tail with the Master Sword. This brought on screams louder and more furious, but he yanked the sword out in a spurt of crimson and stabbed again. The monster jerked so suddenly that he fell away barely holding onto the hilt.

Since Link and Zelda had taken up positions on either side of it, the monster had some difficulty responding to both at once, but with his attack on its tail, Link had become the primary target. Twisting its enormous bulk to face him, it slashed down at his small body, and he, dazed from his fall, unthinkingly raised his sword to parry. The monster's blade flung his to the edge of the ruins so that a few more inches would have sent it into the magma below.

That was the first time they noticed the flames. While Ganon had been transforming into his present shape, a chain of fire had risen around the ruins, cutting off entrance and escape alike. The Master Sword lay just outside it.

Link held out a hand as if he could stop Zelda from rushing toward the flames. He tried to chase her, but the sword had fallen on her side of the ruins, and she paid him no heed, anyway. Her dress flapping as she ran, she threw down the bow, skidded through the flames, and snapped up the Master Sword, scorching her right hand in the process.

Before he could breathe, she hurled the sword back through the flames in his general direction; he managed to pick it up just as Pig-Ganon reached the edge of the ruins and hacked downwards.

The only thing the monster cleaved was thin air. Zelda had slid beneath the gigantic blade, burning her dress this time as she passed through the fire. She regained the bow and had almost brought her second Arrow of Light to bear when the tail crashed into her, catapulting her through the air and into another piece of the central tower. She slumped to the ground, bleeding from the mouth.

Link screamed and darted forward, chopping at the monster's feet. Though it did little damage, he did succeed in warding off a follow-up attack on Zelda. Diving through its legs and back again, he cut at the monster several more times while it stomped around and struggled to get a clear view of him.

"Link…" Somehow, weak as it was, he heard Zelda's voice calling him over the roar of the flames. Immediately, he turned and saw what she wanted, kicked the bow into her arms, and dodged another titanic foot before it could crush him.

Moments later, a Light Arrow pierced the monster's neck as it was raising its arms to bring down another blow with the two swords. The same golden sparks spouted from the point of impact, and the same screams echoed when Link found purchase in the flesh of the monster's tail with the Master Sword. More blood flowed.

Mad with its injuries, Pig-Ganon no longer sought for perfect aim, but swung its arms back and forth, launching bricks and other debris in every direction. Link evaded most of it, but two bricks hit him—one in the back, the other on his fractured elbow—as he ran to shield Zelda.

He froze, whipping his gaze from side to side. Zelda had vanished. At the same time, he realized that something had brought the monster to a halt. With growing trepidation, he turned to see what it was.

Zelda, steadying herself against a tusk, had called up Farore's Wind once more and ridden it onto Pig-Ganon's head. The magic had clearly exhausted her, but with a deep breath and a cry to Nayru, Goddess of Wisdom, she shot the last shaft, and the Arrow of Light sank into the monster's left eye up to the fletching.

This time, the light nearly blinded them. With a scream, Zelda tumbled to the ground, eight feet below. Too far away to catch her, Link seized the opportunity she had bought him to sever the monster's tail completely. A fountain of crimson washed over him, so that it appeared as if he had donned the tunic he had worn in the Fire Temple. Spluttering, he stumbled over to where Zelda had fallen, only to find her a step ahead of him.

Standing three meters back with her neck bent slightly forward, she pressed her hands toward Ganondorf, and seven golden rays of light splayed out from her palms, touching him as he lay helpless amidst the ruins.

"I can hold him back," she said, "but not for long. It is time. Use the Master Sword to deliver the final blow!"

It was all like a dream now. The Master Sword had begun to glow with an unearthly light, and Link stared at it as if seeing it for the first time. But the moment pressed in on him, the moment he had spent more than seven years of his life for, the moment his mother and so many others had paid for in blood.

He heard Navi screeching at him. "Now, Link!"

* * *

Ganondorf watched Link's sword flash downward. He felt its holy bite pierce his flesh again and again, bleeding him cheek and nose and forehead until his blood covered all three of them: Power, Wisdom, and Courage. With each up-and-down of the Hero's arm, the monster's breath became more ragged; Ganon cursed the form he had taken and sought even now to change it again.

It was too late, of course. Zelda's hold on him, along with the overwhelming strength of the Master Sword, barred him from everything except his thoughts.

_They don't know how irrevocable a gift the gods gave when they gave me the Triforce of Power._

He gasped as the Hero slowed long enough for him to grab a last breath. "I'll never let go of it," he said. "If this is truly the power of gods, let them take it from me themselves, if they can."

He had spoken these words aloud, but to the others, they came out as a series of hoarse and unintelligible grunts.

* * *

Out of breath, Link thrust the Master Sword through the bridge of Ganondorf's nostrils and did not pull it out again until the blade had entered to half of its length.

In spite of her injuries, Zelda's voice rose with terrible force. "Six Sages…now!"

* * *

_"Ancient Creators of Hyrule!" Rauru's hands are pressed together in supplication. "Now, open the sealed door and send the Incarnation of Darkness into the void of the Evil Realm!"_

_ Around him, each of the Six adds the force of their prayers to his, and the Light grows. The blue platform they are standing on is swallowed in an oval of white. The door to Hyrule is open._

* * *

A chill went down Link's spine when he saw the portal open underneath Ganon. He feared it no less knowing it wasn't meant for him. The force of it was like a cyclone dragging the monster's body downward, and before another minute had gone by, Ganon had disappeared from their sight altogether, along with the portal itself.

In Hyrule, an awful stillness remained, but they could almost hear his voice ringing in their heads as he passed from one realm to the next. _"Curse you, Zelda, Sages, Link! Someday, when this seal is broken, I will exterminate your descendants. As long as the Triforce of Power is in my hand…"_

The voice was suddenly cut off.

* * *

**By now, none of the changes and additions to the story should be too surprising, so I don't feel it's necessary to comment on those at this stage. However, please feel free to PM me with any questions you have about some particular point.**

**With the climax of the story now past us, we have two more chapters to go plus a brief epilogue. So the next update will probably be the last.**

**Someone asked me in the reviews if I'd like to see this as a movie. Is Navi annoying? Is Death Mountain Crater hot? Do Deku Nuts make a blinding flash when they explode? Do I dream of meeting Princess Zelda in person someday? YES, YES, YES, and YES. Still, I'd be pretty content if someone at Nintendo just gave this a second chance as a BOOK first. A film would be awesome as long as it was done right, but the book is what I spent so much time on, so I'll settle for that right now ;-).**

**I'll have plenty more to say in the afterword, so please look forward to it in the next week or two!**


	45. Home

Chapter 44: Home

"Give them more water. Sop up that blood before it gets on the new yoke. Shut that horse up, will you Ingo? Step back, back. Too many confounded people around here. How're these two supposed to recover with all this commotion?"

Link woke to the barnyard racket of chickens squawking, horses neighing, cows mooing, and Talon and Malon yelling at anyone within earshot. He heard Navi buzzing at his side, and the scrape of boots against pine assured him that he and Zelda were surrounded.

The first thing he actually saw was Malon, on her knees, bending over Zelda with a cold rag and an assortment of herbs and poultices.

"Hey," he said.

Malon pretended to ignore him. Most of the others had backed away to give them room, but Talon leaned in and poked at a bandage on Link's chest. "That was a close one, son."

"I'm glad you're okay, Link," Navi said.

He peered around the barn. The two of them—he and Princess Zelda, who was still unconscious—were lying in a stall filled with hay and stained with their blood. The air smelled of manure and wounds.

"How is she?" He swallowed.

Malon still refused to look at him, but she did mutter a response, and that was enough to tell him Zelda would live.

He glanced at Talon. "How did we get here?"

The farmer snapped the left strap of his overalls against the shoulder. "Malon was watching the battle from a distance, I think to see if she could spot you. When y'all moved into the town, she followed, and when it was over, she told them to carry you here."

"The young lady was adamant." Arswaine smiled from the doorway. "She seemed confident of her skills and insisted this would be a better place to serve your needs than any other we might reach in time. She has saved your lives."

Link nodded. "Thank you, Malon." The girl grunted an acknowledgment and continued her work. A delicate cough from beneath her alerted him to Zelda's wakening.

"Princess." Arswaine bowed deeply as soon as Zelda had noticed him. "We have prayed to Din for your recovery."

Though dazed from her injuries and the sudden change of environment, Zelda dipped her head to show she had understood. "Once more, I thank all of you. We owe you everything."

A Goron with a scarred face stepped into view. "If that is all you say, you are unfair to yourselves. It is we who owe _you_ everything."

Link listened to the exchange of pleasantries with half an ear, focusing most of his attention on Zelda's expression. Everything about her—her reserved smile, the stately bow of her head, each turn of phrase—bespoke royalty, but he thought he detected some discomfort beneath the surface.

"I said, you think you're up for a little ruckus tonight?" Talon nudged him in the ribs, bringing him back to the conversation. "They're throwing a party out in Hyrule Field after dark."

"What of the dead?" he asked.

"A burial mound is prepared," said Arswaine. "They will be interred at dusk. After that, we are to celebrate Hyrule's liberation."

Link tried to let that sink in. _Hyrule's liberation. Ganon gone. Dead._ He shook his head. _No, not dead. But he can't get to us where he's at._

He allowed himself a smile while Navi chattered about how glad she was that he was okay and how she wished she could have done more to help during the battle and how, and how, and how…

* * *

At twilight, Zelda gave a speech to honor those who had fallen in the battle and those who had lost their lives to the cataclysm seven years ago. All those in attendance paused for a moment of silence while a troupe of Gorons, Knights, Zoras, and Gerudos placed the bodies in a mound on Hyrule Field.

_"It is by honoring what they believed in that we honor the dead best…"_

She meant that speech. Every word of it. Later on, when the food and drink and revelry had begun to spill over at Lon Lon Ranch and the field surrounding it, she toasted all the people of Hyrule and bade them rejoice in their newfound unity.

_"It is also through our joy that we honor the dead. They would not have us behave as if the darkness they fought to destroy still covered the land!"_

She had meant that, too. The problem was, she whispered to herself, _I can never rejoice with the rest while the past weighs on my heart._

She slipped away during the height of the celebration, back into the barn where they had recovered from their wounds.

They. She and Link.

She had hoped for solitude, but as the door closed behind her and her eyes adjusted to the lamplight from the rafters, she saw a red-haired figure watching her from the shadows.

"Oh, I'm sorry." She wiped her eyes and turned to depart.

"No. Stay." Malon spoke this quietly, but her tone brooked no refusal. "I wanted to talk to you, anyway. I'm going to ask you some questions, and I want you to answer them."

"I'm sorry?"

"We have something to settle between us."

The uneasiness that had been growing in Zelda's heart during the past few hours closed around her with icy forcefulness. "We have never met until today. What could we have against each other?"

"It was you Link was looking for, wasn't it?"

"I don't know what you mean."

"When he came to rescue me. He was distracted. He told me once he was doing something important for Hyrule, and I thought that was why he was in a hurry to leave at first. But why was he doing it in the first place when he could have stayed in the forest? You know what I think? I think he was doing it for you. _That's _why he was distracted. I'll bet it was you who started him on this whole thing in the first place."

This touched so near to Zelda's distress that the color rose in her cheeks.

"What's the matter?" Malon put her hands on her hips. "Too royal to say what you're really thinking?"

When it finally came, Zelda's reply was almost too weak to hear. "You speak of things you know nothing of."

Malon stamped her feet, becoming more shrill by the minute. "Is that the best you can do?" She bit her cheek hard enough to draw tears. "You're smart enough to know he did it for you. But _why _would he care so much about the person who stole his life?"

"No." A sob escaped the princess' throat. "It isn't true. He did it because he knew it was necessary for all our sakes."

Malon smirked. "You think that's how they'll tell it when we're dead and can't tell the story ourselves? 'The Hero who saved Hyrule.' His own courage was enough to keep him going the whole time. He did it all because he wanted to, for people he never knew. I wouldn't believe that for a minute."

Zelda was shaking now. "Link has many friends…and he would have done it for any of them. He is as unselfish a person as I have ever known."

Malon calmed slightly. "Maybe. You and I both know everyone in Hyrule will talk about what's happened here. It won't be the kind of story that just goes away. But if they name the one person in his life who made more of a difference than all the others, who made him _want_ to save the world, you think it'll be me? 'The Legend of Malon.' Even if it had been me, they'd love the idea of Hyrule's Hero and the Princess so much that the truth wouldn't matter."

Zelda had lapsed into silence, but Malon thought she could hear the princess weeping in the dark. Both of them stared at the floor, unwilling to look the other in the face.

"If I could change the past…" Malon sighed, folding her arms. "But I'm just a farmer's daughter. I suppose you'll be queen someday, and we'll still be delivering milk to your castle so you can keep holding feasts and inviting important people from all over Hyrule."

Again, there was no response. For the first time, a twinge of guilt passed through Malon as she considered the impact of her words. They had been coming for a long time, but that didn't mean she couldn't have stopped them.

"I…I'm sorry," she said suddenly, looking up. "It's just that—"

But there was no one there.

* * *

It took everything she had to make it through the crowds that danced and laughed and made easy conversation around Lon Lon Ranch. Many greeted her, and she bowed to each one with as straight a face and as kind a word as she could muster, but the flood could not be held back for long. _Is this what it's like to be queen? To hide your true self from everyone around you? All adoring you, yet so alone._

She finally slipped away over the hill south of the ranch and broke into a run, sometimes covering her face with her hands, sometimes letting the tears run freely down her cheeks onto her dress. No one called after her; that, at least, was something to be grateful for. For nearly a mile, she ran uninterrupted, not a sight or sound of life around her except from the distant celebration.

But then something—or someone—snagged her right arm, spinning her around to face the way she had come.

"What do you think you're doing?"

She tried desperately to soak up the tears with the sleeves of her dress, but there was no disguising herself from _him._ The very attempt to conceal her passions made them more obvious.

"I'm sorry," Link said. "I didn't mean to grab so hard, but I don't understand…" _Why you're running away,_ he had been about to say. He paused when he saw her tears. "What is it?"

When Zelda could gather her wits to answer, she spoke quietly, in between sobs, holding the back of her hand—the Triforce of Wisdom—to her left cheek. "I don't deserve to celebrate."

Link shook his head. "That's ridiculous. You're the Seventh Sage, a Princess of Hyrule, a Sheikah warrior…you've guided and protected me since I first met you. If anyone deserves to celebrate—" He stopped as she held up a hand.

"None of that matters," she said. "Thanks to you, Ganondorf has been sealed inside the Evil Realm. Peace will reign again…for a time. But all the tragedy that has befallen Hyrule was my doing!"

He took her right arm, gently this time. "You don't believe that, and neither do I."

"I was so young. Had I studied the knowledge of the Sacred Realm more closely, I might have anticipated what would happen when you removed the Master Sword. At the least, I should have known that Ganondorf would follow you."

Link frowned. "What could you have done differently? Had you kept the Ocarina of Time, he would have followed _you_ instead. I couldn't have entered the Sacred Realm without it. That was our only hope."

Zelda closed her eyes and hung her head to the side as if she would dwindle away like a rose under too much sun. "Do you remember the dream I told you about when we spoke in the courtyard seven years ago?"

He nodded. "You said clouds had covered Hyrule, and a light came from the forest, with a figure holding a green and shining stone. And there was a fairy."

"Yes." She opened her eyes again. "My mother once explained that the goddesses had given me the ability to communicate thoughts and images with others over long distances. When I began to understand what my dream meant, I knew I had to help it come true if I could."

"I don't see the problem."

"Please allow me to finish," she said, the strength in her voice returning. "Not everyone can receive my messages, but I had heard of the guardian of the forest. I knew that if there was one person who could help me, it was the Great Deku Tree."

"So you told him your dream?" Navi danced in the air excitedly. "And that's why he summoned Link and asked him to look for you?"

Instead of rebuking her for the interruption, Zelda smiled for a moment. "Yes, Navi. I told him the dream, assuming that no one else would find out about it. But someone did."

"Ganondorf." Link said it without hesitation.

"Somehow, he was watching, and he saw the dream as I shared it with the Great Deku Tree. That was how he discovered the location of the Spiritual Stone. After he imprisoned me, he told me I had helped him find it; I had never guessed it until then. So you see, the loss the Kokiri suffered is partly my responsibility. The dream had made me anxious for my people and for Hyrule, and I was careless."

Link bit his cheek, but that was all he showed of his grief. "He would have found the Stone anyway."

"Perhaps. Perhaps the Great Deku Tree had already planned on sending you to Hyrule Castle Town with the Stone. We will never know, and it will do little good to ponder over what might have been."

"What you just said explains a lot," Navi said, "but that's not why you're upset, is it?"

Zelda took both of Link's hands in hers. "It is time for me to make up for my mistakes. You must lay the Master Sword to rest and close the Door of Time. But first, I will play a final melody on the Ocarina, the most important of all."

Fear crowded Link's stomach. "What will happen?"

"As a Sage, I can use it to return you to the past. With Ganon sealed in the Evil Realm, you can live the life you should have lived, the life I helped to take from you."

Link shrugged himself away from her and stood back. "Why do you feel so guilty about it? I didn't know what was going to happen any more than you did, but I gave myself for Hyrule because I chose to, not because anyone made me! Don't you see? Zelda, I lov—"

"Please." Her hand came up again. "Do not make this any harder than it is. I _must_ be allowed to give you this chance. Go back, Link. Regain your lost time. Home. Where you are supposed to be, the way you are supposed to be."

"If you send me to the past..." He gestured at Hyrule Field, but it was as if he had encompassed the entire adventure of the last seven years. "Will we remember what happened? Or will Link forget Zelda and Zelda Link?"

Zelda sighed. "It may be that we will both remember…or, like the rest of Hyrule, we will live in ignorance of the price we paid to secure peace from Ganondorf."

He closed his eyes. "I'll do whatever you ask."

She extended her right hand, palm upwards. "Give me the Ocarina of Time."

He swallowed but obeyed her without protest, saying nothing. She allowed her hands to linger in his one more time as he returned the great instrument to her. He trembled.

The song she played was her lullaby, the same lullaby Impa had played to her as a child. Link willed it to last forever, even if it meant giving up the chance to start over. What mattered were the things he had around him now. Navi. Zelda. The endless span of Hyrule Field.

"Goodbye, Link. Goodbye, Navi," she said when she had finished. "And thank you…"


	46. Dreams of a Hero

Chapter 45: Dreams of a Hero

The boy blinked three times and turned in a circle, confused by his surroundings. They seemed familiar somehow, but if he had ever been here before, it must have been in a dream or vision, because the memory was too vague just then to be certain. A moment ago, he had been holding a sword that was almost as long as his body; now it rested where he had placed it: in a pedestal marked with three stone triangles. From the window above, the sun shone down on that pedestal as if to welcome the blade home.

"Where is this?" The boy noticed something floating in the air beside him. He shook his head in hopes of clearing it. "Navi? Navi…the fairy?"

The thing spun around him so fast it made him dizzy. "Link, you remembered!"

"Remembered?" He took a few tentative steps away from the sword, heading for the door opposite. Suddenly, it all crashed in on him with the force of a typhoon. "Ganon. Zelda. The Sages!"

Navi giggled. "We did it, didn't we?"

He lowered his head. "Yeah. But she sent us back through time. We could be the only ones who know what happened."

"Then you can tell them about it."

He stopped, frowning. "You mean _we,_ don't you?"

"I did what the Great Deku Tree asked me to do, Link. Now I have to go back where I came from, too. Back to the forest."

"What if I want you to stay?" He looked at her, biting his lip. "You might be annoying sometimes, but I've gotten used to you."

"A fairy isn't supposed to be away from the forest for too long, or it might die. But we can be together if you come to live with us again. In your old house."

"I'm not a Kokiri, Navi! I mean…" He hesitated, searching for the right words. "I _am_ a Kokiri in spirit. Saria and Mido helped me believe that. But I'm also a Hylian. There are things I want to do here among my own people."

"I know." Navi sagged in midair. "I was just hoping…"

"I'm sorry." He cupped her small body in his left hand. "I didn't mean to hurt your feelings. I couldn't have done it not having someone to talk to the whole time and give advice. You know, things like 'hey, listen,' and 'look out!'" He smiled. "I mean it. You were a great help…and a great friend."

With a fluttering of wings, Navi drifted into the light shining on the Master Sword. "Thanks." Her voice began to fade the higher she rose toward the sun. "Goodbye, Link. We'll miss you…"

* * *

She stood alone in the courtyard, looking in through a window on the throne room as her father conferred with a delegation from the Gerudos. One of the women bowed to the King, and a porter called out the name Nabooru, Queen of the Desert. Her father returned the bow, and the two of them retired, together with their retainers, to discuss a much-rumored peace between their peoples.

The Princess of Hyrule frowned. It was everything _her_ people could have hoped for, but something about the event seemed strange, as if it had occurred before with different faces and a very different result. But this was the first time a Gerudo Queen and the King of Hyrule had met in such a way, as far as she knew. She sighed and began puzzling over the dream that had come to her the night before.

Disjointed images rose before her. She had watched as an unnatural twilight invaded Hyrule, bringing with it dark creatures from another realm. Other segments of the dream had shown Hyrule flooded by rain, with only the tops of mountains remaining above water. She had also seen lands that were unfamiliar: one where the moon had collided with the earth, and one where a great fish lay sleeping, surrounded by eight beautiful instruments.

It would have all been compelling in and of itself, but what puzzled her most was the face she had seen again and again through each segment of the dream. It was a boy dressed in a simple green tunic. Several times, he had aged in front of her, his face and body changing a little with his environment. But always, always he wore that tunic with a sword and shield at his side as he struggled with the Darkness.

Suddenly, the dream vanished, and her eyes widened as she realized that same face was staring back at her from the throne room window, reflected from somewhere behind her, in the courtyard.

With a gasp, she spun around to face him, holding a hand beneath her chin delicately. The boy didn't speak, and though she tried to do so, for a long time she could only gaze back as he stood there and she stood there, communicating on a level far deeper than words.

And she began to remember.


	47. Once Again to Zelda

Epilogue: Once Again to Zelda

_I want to love first, and live incidentally.  
__Don't ever think of the things you can't give me.  
__You've trusted me with the dearest heart of all._

~Zelda Fitzgerald in a letter to her husband F. Scott, 1919

* * *

The Queen of Hyrule stood by the window of her bedchamber, looking out of that great tower towards Hyrule Field. Political missives—letters from King Darunia, Queen Ruto, Saria, and Queen Nabooru, among others—had been arranged on the desk by her bed, but tonight of all nights, on the anniversary of their first meeting in the courtyard, she had dispensed with all other matters of business.

"Do you think he'll come?" The stone on the fourth finger of her left hand, a smaller facsimile of the Spiritual Stone of the Forest, glimmered in the light of the sunset.

"Your concern is the same every year," the voice spoke from the shadows, "and every year, the result is the same. He will come."

"I know." She lowered her head, a sad smile playing across her face. "But there is some comfort in asking the question."

"What is it that troubles you?"

"Am I that obvious?"

"To your subjects, no. To the one who has been your nurse from the womb, yes."

The Queen sighed. "I fear things will not always be as they are now. They condone our union because he is the Hero of Time and a Knight of Hyrule. But what if they begin to forget what we did to save them?"

"The law of the realm is not always the law of Din. If the people begin to frown on your union, you may maintain the vows of your heart in secret without fearing the wrath of the gods."

"I pray it never comes to that."

The shadow nodded towards the window. "You see? He comes."

The Queen's eyes traced the path of his horse as it galloped west from Kokiri Forest. "He has done so much for Hyrule."

"And for you?"

The sly tone of these words painted a blush on the Queen's cheeks. "That is none of your business, Impa, nurse or no."

"My apologies, Queen."

"Don't call me that."

"Very well…Zelda."

They remained in silence for a quarter of an hour, long after his horse had disappeared into the city below. He would arrive soon.

"I will depart," said Impa.

"Not yet." Zelda the Queen held up her hand the way she had since girlhood. "Do you remember the dream I had when he came back?"

"Of course."

"Do you think any of those things will come true?"

"You said he was there, in all of the stories."

"Yes."

"You know your dreams have proved to be true in the past."

"Yes?"

"Then I suspect," Impa said, her voice low but firm, "that as long as there is a Hyrule or any land under Din and her sisters, there will always be a Link to defeat the Darkness."

Zelda didn't answer at first, but it was clear she had heard Impa's words. For a moment, the Sage of Shadow wondered if her Queen would reply at all.

"Impa," she said at last, "I do think you're right."

* * *

**This is it, folks: the end of the journey. Thank you so much to everyone who has read this far, especially those of you who have stuck with me since I posted the first chapters. Thank you for taking this journey with me, and I hope you're still glad you came along now that you've reached the end. When Randall Wallace wrote the tie-in novel for _Braveheart_, he said something in his introduction that has stuck with me for years. He said he didn't know how the story of William Wallace really happened, but in his heart, _this_ (referring to the story from the film and the novel) was _exactly_ how it happened. That's the way I feel about my _Ocarina of Time_ novel. Whether it's canon or not, for me this is exactly how it happened.**

**I can't honestly say where I'll go from here as far as my writing career. After a long delay, the Kindle version of my first published book came out this morning (12/1/12). Feel free to check it out if you liked my writing well enough to read more of it ;-). I can't promise I'll write any more fanfic; if I do, it will probably come in short bursts. I'm not planning any more projects as epic as _this_ one anytime soon. I had always intended for this to be published, and frankly I'm still holding out hope in the back of my heart that a miracle will occur and I'll have the opportunity to see this in print. But that's neither here nor there. I'm still happy to have had the opportunity to share this with you _here,_ regardless of whether it's ever printed and bound.**

**Once again, my sincere thanks if you've made it this far. Keep playing, keep living, and above all-May the way of the Hero lead to the Triforce!**


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